the brera picture gallery
“chi sprezza la pittura non ama la filosofia ne la natura.”—leonardo da vinci.
the palazzo di brera contains one of the finest collections of pictures in italy. the palace itself, once the house of the great order of the umiliati, and after them of the jesuits, who in their turn were dispossessed by the state in 1772, is in its present form a grandiose seventeenth century building, with a double galleried cortile of fine proportions. in the midst of the cortile stands a statue of napoleon buonaparte, by canova. the biblioteca nazionale occupies part of the building. there is a large fresco of the marriage at cana in galilee on the staircase leading to the library, by callisto piazza, one of the late milanese school—a good example of the artist.
the pinacoteca is entered from the upper loggia. the pictures have recently been admirably arranged. they are labelled with the names and dates of the artists, and the attributions are in accordance with the latest criticism. we shall only dwell on the most interesting of the numerous works, noticing particularly the local school.
we pass through sala i. with cartoons by andrea appiani, a late eighteenth century milanese artist.
sala ii. contains some of the best work of the early lombard school, frescoes of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which have been removed from churches 336and convents. we pass some unimportant primitive frescoes that would be beautiful in their original position, but lose artistic value in the narrow space where they are now seen, and come to three frescoes by bramantino, which show him at his best. the madonna and child (15) is very characteristic of his manner, in the broad treatment of the flesh and drapery, in the blond types, and the way in which the figures are lighted from below. a putto (16) has an irresistible charm. this child among the vine leaves is so true to nature, so full of joy and life. the st. martin (17) is a noble conception of chivalrous youth. in beauty and refinement it excels any other work by bramantino.
we now come to vincenzo foppa, who takes the most important place in the early lombard school. madonna and child with ss. john baptist and john evangelist kneeling on each side (19). the composition is formal, but there is a strong feeling for nature in the figures. martyrdom of st. sebastian (20) is a composition full of vigour and life; the saint’s figure is well drawn and modelled with a sculpturesque solidity. there is a na?ve simplicity in the expression of the archers’ faces and in their close vicinity to their mark, hardly in keeping with the academic feeling shown in the architectural surroundings. foppa’s colour in these two frescoes is much fresher and pleasanter than in his altarpieces.
next we have borgognone (ambrogio da fossano), whom morelli calls the perugino of the lombard school. these frescoes from the church of san satiro belong to his best period. st. martha, st. catherine, st. mary magdalen (22); st. barbara, st. roch and st. clara (23); st. martina, st. apollonia and st. agnes (24). they are very beautiful figures, of most refined and delicate execution. st. roch is especially fine, his poetic face shows a power of characterisation that is seldom seen in borgognone’s work, and the st. barbara is exquisitely graceful. it is very unfortunate that these valuable frescoes have been so much damaged. the large madonna with angels and god the father (25) is a fine picture, but loses its due effect in the narrow gallery.
putto, fresco by bramantino (brera)
to face p. 336] ???? [anderson, rome
337we come next to a number of frescoes by bernardino luini, where his fundamental faults, viz., heavy forms and want of drawing, are glossed over by his gift of charm. madonna and child, with a lamb and little st. john, in a landscape (63), is one of the best. the madonna is tender and dignified, and there is an idyllic feeling about the whole that is very attractive. madonna and child with st. anne (64) is also charming. st. anne is a graceful figure in yellow and purple, a combination of colours which the peasant women of lombardy wear to this day. there are some profane subjects, 70 to 76 inclusive, from the villa pelucca, near monza. a young horseman in a decoratively-treated landscape (72); sacrifice to pan (73); daphne (74); birth of adonis (76). a very charming bust of a young woman (75), whose golden hair and dress of palest puce and white against a background of pale green makes a pleasant colour harmony.
on the opposite wall are frescoes by gaudenzio ferrari, scenes from the life of the virgin. there is life and movement in these paintings and a freshness both of treatment and feeling, but the execution is careless. the side panels of the adoration of the magi (33), with the servants and horses, are very spirited. the meeting of the virgin and elizabeth (37) is rather theatrical, but the lines of the composition are good.
there are other frescoes by marco d’oggiono and bernardino lanino.
338sala iii.—here we have pictures of the venetian schools of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. there are examples by moretto, and fine portraits by g. b. moroni. by paris bordone there are three sacred subjects (106, 107, 108), and a picture called gli amanti veneziani (105) which shows him in a more congenial mood. it has all the charm of rich colour and sensuous beauty, and one can admire the fine qualities of the technique here, whereas in the religious subjects it gives no pleasure. near by hangs the masterpiece of the brescian artist, girolamo savoldo, madonna and child, with ss. peter, domenico, paul and jerome (114). the background is especially beautiful, with its water and hills and luminous sky paling to an exquisite light on the horizon. the cenacolo (117), doubtfully ascribed to titian, cannot be considered his work. the rather uninteresting adoration of the magi (119) was begun by palma vecchio and finished by cariani. the large marriage of cana (120) is a work of the school of paolo veronese. there are also pictures by the sons of il bassano.
sala iv. contains venetian works of the sixteenth century. the first thing one sees is tintoretto’s famous picture of st. mark appearing to the venetians, who are searching for his body in the crypt of st. eufemia of alexandria (143). mr. berenson says of this picture—‘... the figures, although colossal, are so energetic and easy in movement, and the effects of perspective and of light and atmosphere are so on a level with the gigantic figures, that the eye at once adapts itself to the scale, and you feel as if you too partook of the strength and health of heroes.’[18] in tintoretto’s deposition of christ (149), the grand lines of the shadowed figure fill us with a deep sense of tragedy. of a very different character to these two pictures is
18. the venetian painters of the renaissance, p. 56.
339the festive scene, by bonifazio veronese (114), moses saved from the water. the subject here is an excuse for one of those fêtes champêtres which the venetian artists loved to paint. the picture shows us delightful groups of richly-dressed men and beautiful women in a romantic landscape, painted with all bonifazio’s characteristic glory of colour.
baptism and temptation of jesus (151) cannot be regarded as a genuine work of paolo veronese.
sala v.—venetian pictures of the fourteenth-sixteenth centuries.—gentile bellini’s great canvas of the preaching of st. mark in the piazza of alexandria (164) is a stately representation of a contemporary scene; some of the groups are very quaint. it was finished by gian bellini. bartolommeo montagna has a very fine altarpiece, madonna and child, with ss. andrew, monica, ursula and sigismondo (165), signed 1498. there are three charming little pictures by carpaccio—marriage of the virgin (169), dispute of st. stephen (170), and presentation of mary in the temple (171). three works by cima show us this gentle artist at his best. st. peter enthroned between ss. john baptist and paul (174) is a restful picture with devout saints; the mild and youthful st. john is a notable contrast to the wild and ascetic figure of this saint as usually depicted by the florentines. the other two pictures are madonna and ss. john baptist, sebastian, roch, magdalen and donors (175), and st. peter martyr between ss. nicolo of bari and augustine (176). st. sebastian (177), by liberale da verona, is a most delightful and satisfying picture, suffused with a golden glow, and the idealised figure of the saint forms an exquisite harmony with the colour of the houses and blue sky and water of the background.
sala vi. contains three fine works by titian. portrait 340of count antonio porcia (180) is a magnificent painting; the pale face, black dress and background, and blue landscape, make a striking arrangement of colour. the st. jerome (182) is a late work, the rugged figure in the savage landscape is tremendously vigorous. ruskin writes of this picture that it is ‘a superb example of the modes in which the objects of landscape may be either suggested or elaborated according to their place and claim. the larger features of the ground, foliage and drapery, as well as lion in the lower angle, are executed with a slightness that admits not of close examination.... but on the rock above ... there is a wreath of ivy, of which every leaf is drawn with the greatest accuracy and care, and beside it a lizard, studied with equal earnestness, yet always with that right grandeur of manner to which i have alluded....’[19] beside the titians, the picture by palma vecchio—s. sebastian, constantine, st. helena, and st. roch (179)—seems wanting in strength and distinction. st. roch has a poetical head, and s. sebastian is a well-painted nude, but the type is effeminate.
19. ruskin, modern painters.
sala vii.—some of the finest portraits by the venetian painter lorenzo lotto are here. of the portrait of a gentleman (183), mr. berenson says—‘this is the most subtle of all lotto’s portraits in characterisation, and considered merely as technique, it is his most masterly achievement.’[20] nos. 184 and 185 are almost certainly the portraits of messer febo da brescia and madonna laura da pola, his wife, which are known to have been painted in 1543-44. the woman, beautiful and distinguished, has an intent, sad gaze, with that reserve in her expression that one is familiar with in lotto’s portraits. the man’s character is less complex than hers. both portraits are of very
20. b. berenson, lorenzo lotto.
341fine execution, though hers is the more delicate. the little panel, assumption of the virgin (186), is an early work with a pleasant landscape. the pietà (188) is an important but unattractive composition.
sala viii. contains unimportant works of various venetian schools.
sala ix. is one of the most interesting of all, for here are the works of gian bellini, mantegna, and some of the best examples of that individual and fascinating painter, carlo crivelli. on entering, one is at once arrested by the noble pietà of gian bellini (214). in this most touching picture the artist has expressed himself with a deep human feeling which he rarely shows afterwards. we feel almost awed in the presence of the mother’s infinite love and sorrow, and the perfect peace and calm of the dead christ amid the agony of hopeless grief. st. john cries aloud in his despair, and a pitiless dawn is breaking behind them. it is an early work and the treatment of the flesh and heavy draperies is broad and severe. in the picture hanging next, madonna and child in a beautiful landscape (215), dated 1510, we see the change wrought by nearly fifty years. the intensity of feeling of the young bellini has died away in technical perfection. the madonna and child (216) is an early work of the same period as the pietà. in this beautiful sad mother and child is visible the earnest sentiment and the same broad manner of painting.
mantegna’s three pictures hang opposite, and it is interesting to compare them with bellini’s, as the two painters had much in common to start with, and departed widely each on his own lines afterwards. the polyptych, st. luke and other saints, with pietà in upper part (200), is one of his earliest works, finished in 1454. the figures are very refined and carefully drawn, but they are rather stiff, and the 342execution almost timid. beside this picture hangs one of his latest works, the dead christ and the maries (199), and we can note the difference between the early and late style of the master; the careful academic manner of the first has yielded to the broad freedom of the second. this uncompromisingly foreshortened figure must have been an experiment, and is chiefly interesting technically. the madonna and child surrounded with cherubim (198) is a beautiful picture, painted in the broad manner of mantegna’s maturity.
carlo crivelli fills the rest of the room with a wealth of colour and beauty. madonna and child with ss. peter and dominic (201) is so exquisite a picture, so lovely in colour and design, that one feels the last word has been said in an art that combines the highest decoration with a true and childlike religious feeling. who has ever imagined a more pure and innocent creature than this lovely madonna who sits with such unconscious grace in her rich garments on the stately throne? the child, too, is so sweet as he earnestly squeezes a dove in both hands. the young s. geminianus has the ardour of a martyr. the whole picture is a very exquisite harmony of colour and line. coronation of christ and the virgin by the eternal father (202), signed and dated 1493, is a superbly decorative work glowing with rich colour. the flying angels seem really beings of the air, and the devout saints really dwellers in paradise. s. catherine and s. sebastian are especially beautiful. the pietà above (203) is very fine in composition, and the christ is godlike with his long golden hair. the crucifixion (206) is a restless composition. crivelli has striven so hard to express his emotion, but the result is an exaggeration of forms and movement. there is no repose anywhere, draperies flying, fingers contorted; even the sky is in troubled wavelets. madonna of the candle (207). 343in this beautiful panel the madonna sits like a goddess on her high throne, yet has all the sweetness of humanity. the perfect oval of her face and symmetry of her form are drawn by a master’s hand. the rich garland of fruits and the roses and lilies are painted with a loving care. there are also two panels of saints by crivelli (204 and 205).
sala x. contains venetian pictures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. there are four small pictures by cima (217, 218, 219 and 220), charming little pictures in which there is more life and movement than in his larger works. adoration of the magi (223) by stefano da zevio, dated 1435, is a pleasing picture, showing the early veronese character. the decorative polyptych (228) is by antonio vivarini and giovanni da murano.
in sala xi. we have venetian schools of the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries. two landscapes by canaletto (235 and 236) are full of light and air. guardi has two views of the grand canal at venice (242 and 243).
sala xii., lombard school.—here are portraits of the visconti family, of little artistic value. a madonna adoring the child, with ss. catherine and joseph (248) by vincenzo civerchio. the milanese painter bernardino buttinone has two pictures, madonna and child between ss. bernardino and stephen (249), signed and dated 145-. this picture has all the decided characteristics of the artist—the laboured execution, low flesh tones, high and prominent foreheads, enormous ears, claw-like fingers and vividly-coloured draperies. the small madonna (250) is a highly-finished picture and equally lacking in beauty. the ss. catherine and sebastian by defendente ferrari are charming figures in gorgeous costumes.
sala xiii. possesses four pictures by borgognone. 344the most interesting is the small picture of the madonna and child with s. clare and a certosino (259). it is an early work, very devout and sweet in feeling, and shows the artist’s connection with foppa, particularly in the type of the child and the grey flesh tones. the latter, however, are very much modified, and form a very harmonious scheme with the white draperies and silvery colour of sky and water behind. madonna and saints (257), by bevilacqua, is a decorative altarpiece with colour brilliant almost to crudeness.
sala xiv. contains works of the sixteenth century by leonardo’s followers. two magdalens, by gianpietrino (262 and 263), are good examples of his work, and have some poetical charm. an unfinished madonna (261) of leonardesque composition shows a great similarity in the landscape background to that of the well-known bacchus of the louvre, a doubtful leonardo. madonna and child with little s. john (271), by bernardino dei conti, is reminiscent of leonardo’s virgin of the rocks. the colour is hot and the modelling lumpy.
sala xv., lombard school of sixteenth century.—the first picture in this room is a lovely madonna and child (276) by cesare da sesto. it is sympathetic in feeling and refined in execution. the arrangement of dark foliage behind the madonna, showing on one side the distant landscape and pale sky, is very happy. it is the best picture we know of this artist. madonna and child (277) by gaudenzio ferrari is very typical of his style, rather affected in attitude and hot in colour. close by hangs a holy family (279) by bramantino. the drawing of the saviour (280) is not admitted by the best authorities to be a genuine work of leonardo’s. two kneeling figures (281) by boltraffio are distinguished by dignity and feeling. they show how well boltraffio could paint portraits. 345andrea solario has three paintings and a drawing. the best is a portrait of a young man (282), whose characteristic head, with clear, almost hard outline, is well-drawn and carefully finished. madonna and child (286) by sodoma is one of his most leonardesque works.
sala xvi. is entirely devoted to works by luini. a fresco of angels bearing the corpse of st. catherine to deposit in the sepulchre (288) is a graceful composition. the well-known madonna del roseto (289) with its charming background of a rose-trellis is one of the most popular of this artist’s pictures. to us a more sympathetic work is the charcoal drawing (290) of the madonna watching the child, who sleeps on a cushion. here is also a series of frescoes giving the story of s. joseph, taken from the suppressed church of sta. maria della pace.
sala xvii. contains works of the lombard school of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. there is a large polyptych (307) by vincenzo foppa. the central panel, madonna and child with angels, is a very characteristic painting of the artist. the madonna, stately and almost severely simple, is yet perfectly natural, and so is the child as he touches the strings of the instrument held by an angel, leaning his head as if listening to the sound. the large heads and crumpled draperies of the angels are peculiarities which foppa shares with the lombard sculptors. st. francis receiving the stigmata, in the panel above, is rather a feeble figure. the bright red and lavish use of gold in the side panels of saints have a rich effect. the assumption of the virgin (308), by borgognone, dated 1522, is a poor work; in it all his faults are exaggerated; there is no movement in the figures, the background does not recede: the whole thing is absolutely lifeless. bramantino’s large crucifixion 346(309) is very inferior to his other works in the gallery.
the picture of the madonna and child, with the doctors of the church, and lodovico il moro, his wife beatrice, and their children kneeling (310), has been variously attributed to zenale, bernardino dei conti and ambrogio de predis. it has little artistic merit, much the best part being the portraits. the virgin and saints are heavy in type and coarse in execution, showing the leonardesque influence imposed on the native school. ambrogio de predis seems to us the most probable author of this much disputed work. marco d’oggiono has three pictures—st. paul (311), assumption of the virgin (312), the archangels michael, raphael and gabriel overcoming the devil (313). there is no genuine inspiration in these works, nor any charm of colour or technique. we turn with relief to boltraffio’s interesting and well-painted portrait of the poet girolamo casio (319). martyrdom of st. catherine of alexandria (321), by gaudenzio farrari, a crowded and confused composition, shows the decadence of this able and facile painter.
we come to several large canvases by the family of campi of cremona. the best of these is madonna adoring the child (329), by giulio campi; the technique is able, in the later venetian style. two pictures by vincenzo campi—a fruitseller and fishseller—are flemish in manner. next come the painters of lodi, but we have not time to dwell on these productions of the later milanese school. in the cases are drawings of various italian schools.
sala xviii. contains productions of the late lombard schools (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) that repel by their brutal realism.
in sala xix. we have unimportant works of the schools of parma, reggio and modena.
347sala xx. ferrarese and bolognese schools.—the ferrarese school is represented in this gallery by some splendid pictures of the best period. in his st. sebastian (433) that richly imaginative artist dosso dossi, with his cinquecento enjoyment of beauty and his mastery of dramatic effects of light and shade, has given us a picture of enthralling interest, painted with marvellous breadth and power. this strong young body, bound by uplifted arms to the tree, expresses the very passion of martyrdom. this is no mere physical agony; though the arrows visibly torture the flesh, they pierce the soul more sharply. the dark grove, where great fruits and leaves shine out, touched by a strange evil light, surrounds the figure with mystery and magic, which is heightened by the glimpse of a tranquil distant landscape. not st. sebastian, but a character from some ariostean fable this seems—a young hero in search of truth ensnared by cruel necromancy, stripped and bound by the powers of evil. his knight’s helmet lies at his feet. the sensuous beauty of the picture increases its dramatic interest; the curve of the nude body, the flesh colour, incomparable in its coolness and its pearly shadow, crossed by that swathe of green drapery—a green all dosso—the rich glossy leaves, the distant blue, all serve to deepen the tragedy.
francesco d’este, whose portrait (431), in the character of st. george, by dosso, hangs beside st. sebastian, was one of the sons of duke alfonso of ferrara and lucrezia borgia. the st. john baptist (432) is lighted as if by a fire from below, in a manner very characteristic of dosso.
the adoration of the magi (429) by lorenzo costa, the predella of an altarpiece by francia, is a good example of the master.
the great altarpiece (428) is a majestic composition, 348and especially interesting as the work of that rarest painter, the ferrarese ercole de’ roberti, who in the grand architectural and decorative environment of this madonna enthroned shows himself faithful to the precepts of cosimo tura. but the arrangement of the triple figures on the throne—st. anne and st. elizabeth seated on stools on either side of the virgin, with a sort of pyramidal effect—and the types of the heads, especially of the fair and regal virgin, are very individual. the figures of st. augustine and of peter the sinner, below, complete the stately arrangement. the beautiful harmony of red and purple and puce and gorgeous reddish gold shows with rare splendour the ferrarese feeling for colour.
the correggio (427) is not one of the painter’s best works, but the graceful madonna has his peculiar charm; the baby is strangely small. two figures of saints (449) are characteristic, but rather conventional productions by cossa, noticeable for their decoration and the ‘lacquer enamel’ quality of the colour. they are parts of a triptych, of which the centre, s. vincenzo, is in the national gallery.
the great annunciation (448), by francia, is a beautiful and spacious composition, with an exquisitely clear atmospheric effect and picturesque background; but in the over-elaborated angel the painter comes perilously near the banal.
a little figure of the crucified (447) by cosimo tura—a fragment probably of a picture of st. francis receiving the stigmata, is instinct with the great ferrarese master’s intensity of feeling and devotion. other and inferior painters of the school fill the rest of the room.
sala xxi., schools of the romagna.—the three painters, rondinelli, marco palmezzano—who was pupil of melozzo da forlì—and cotignola, are well represented. rondinelli has three pictures. one illustrates 349a legend in the life of galla placidia (452), in which st. john the evangelist appears to her and leaves his shoe behind him as a relic. cotignola’s (francesco zaganelli) pictures are decorative and pleasant in colour, but weak in drawing. he was assisted in nos. 457 and 458 by his brother bernardino. marco palmezzano is the best painter of the three. the nativity (469) is a pleasing picture, and in the coronation (470) the music-making angels are charming. the madonna and ss. john baptist, peter, domenico and mary magdalen (471) is a good picture, but rather mannered in the treatment of draperies and clouds.
sala xxii. possesses the most famous picture of the collection—the marriage of the virgin, by raphael (472). it is signed and dated 1504. this was painted when the artist was only twenty-one. it is an extraordinarily complete work for so young a painter. he did not set himself new and difficult problems to solve; he was content to take the composition of his master perugino (fresco in the sistine chapel), and with perfect artistic instinct improve it into the exquisite picture we have before us. we cannot do better than quote mr. berenson. ‘subtler feeling for space, greater refinement, even a certain daintiness, give this “sposalizio” a fragrance, a freshness that are not in perugino’s fresco. in presence of young sanzio’s picture you feel a poignant thrill of transfiguring sensation, as if, on a morning early, the air cool and dustless, you suddenly found yourself in presence of a fairer world, where lovely people were taking part in a gracious ceremony, while beyond them stretched harmonious distances, line on line to the horizon’s edge.’[21] the picture is seen to full advantage, admirably placed as it is in a room by
21. b. berenson, the central italian painters of the renaissance, p. 124.
350itself, where it can be well seen and thoroughly studied and enjoyed.
sala xxiii., central italian painters.—signorelli has two pictures here—flagellation of christ (476), and madonna and child between cherubims (477). there is a predella picture (483) by eusebio di san giorgio, a madonna (473) by pacchiarotti, and other works of the siennese school.
sala xxiv. contains frescoes by bramante of urbino, representing heraclites and democritus, six men-at-arms and a singer, originally decorating the baron’s hall in casa panigarola at milan. these paintings show a distinct connection with the art of melozzo da forlì. they are grand monumental figures, that one feels belong to a great architectural scheme, and cannot be properly appreciated in this small room.
sala xxv., painters of umbria and the marches.—here we have several interesting works, especially the very fine picture by piero dei franceschi, madonna and saints, with federigo da montefeltro, duke of urbino (510). this is a stately composition, where the saints are grouped round the madonna, and the great duke of urbino kneels at her feet, while she sits with the child sleeping easily on her knee, grand and aloof, a being far above the passions and weakness of humanity. she is quite unlike any other madonna, and though not exactly beautiful, holds one’s attention far more than many that are so. after piero’s work most pictures look trivial; but one can turn with pleasure to gentile da fabriano’s exquisite polyptych (497), whose flower-like beauty of colour and line transports us into another world. there is an annunciation (503) by giovanni santi, the father of raphael, which foreshadows the charm so highly developed later in his son. a madonna and angels, 351and various saints (504) by nicolò da foligno. a madonna with ss. simon, guida, bonaventura and francis (505), by signorelli, signed and dated 1508. in one of timoteo viti’s pictures, madonna with ss. crescenzio and vitale (508), the saint holding the banner is of that distinct umbrian type one sees in the work of the young raphael, whose first master timoteo probably was.
salas xxvi. and xxvii. contain works of the bolognese school of the caracci; sala xxviii., works of the roman school of the seventeenth century; sala xxix., works of the genovese school, including pictures by salvator rosa. sala xxx. and xxxi., foreign schools, mostly flemish and dutch, of the seventeenth century. the remaining rooms have modern italian pictures.
