In 1630 and 1631 many painter/1 were carried off by the plague, which elate' Venice in those years ; and traces of the excellences of the great masters were after that time still more rare In the weeks of the surviving painters of Venice. In the middle of the 17th century the style of IL A. Caravaggio and the Naturallsti began to proaail there, and several foreigners supplanted the Venctien painters in public estimation in Venice itself. The followers of Vane-semi) in Venice wore, on account of their dark shadows, called by the Venetian painter* the Tenebrosl : the pictures of the masters of this school are dark from two causes—front their style of colour. lag and from their practice of painting upon dark grounds, upon which the middle tints never staneL The pictures painted on such ground, darken after a time, and high lights and deep shadows are all that appear. Of these Naturalists and Tenebrosi, l'ietro Ricchi of Lucca, called 11 Luochene, was one of the best; others were Carlo Sarseeni, Francesco Ruse., Stefano Pauluzzi, Matted da Pitocchi, and lintiano Mazzoni. Of strangers distinguished in other styles the following were the most suocensful :—Antonio Triva of Reggio, a scholar of Guerclno ; Bernardo Strozza, his scholar Langetti, and Niccolo Clean, of Genoa ; Antonio Bea-amuse, of Bavaria ; and Fede rico Cervelli, of Milan. the master of Seba.stiano Ricci. The painters of this penal who still followed the style of the great leader of the Venetian school were Giovanni Contarino and his scholar Tiberio celebrated portrait painters ; also Circlet:no Forabosco, Pietro lieUotti, and Carlo Ridplfi, well known for his Lives of the Venetian painters,' Le 3Iaraviglie dell' Arte, ovvero le Vito degli illustri Pittori Veneti e dello Stato,' 2 vols. Ito., Venice, 1648, which is one of the but of the Italian works of this kind. Bitola was a native of Verona, where, of all the cities of the Venetian state, what is more properly the Venetian style still prevailed with least deterioration. Dario Varotari, the father of Alessandro, called Padovanino, Alessan dro Turchl, called L'Orbetto, and Pasquale Ottini, all amongst the beet painters of their time, were natives of Verona.
Padovanino (born at Padua, 1530, died 1650) went young to Venice to study the works of Titian, and became the most distinguished painter of this school of the 17th century, and is one of the best of Titian's Imitators: his masterpiece is the 3larriage at Cana, in the Academy at Venice. Scahigero, his principal scholar, also acquired reputation.
Another great painter of Padua of this time was Pietro Liberi, sometime. called Libertine, from the chara2ter of his naked Venuses, of which lie painted many. At Vicenza the beauties of this school were still preserved to a considerable degree by Alessandro Maganza, an imitator of Paul Veronese and Zelotti ; Francesco Maffei, scholar of Peranda ; Giulio Carpioni, scholar of Padovanino; and Bartolomeo Cittadella, the scholar of Carpioni.
At the and of the 17th century no particular style prevailed in Venice, and all the various classes of painting had their votaries : landscape, architecture, battle, and marine painters were alike mime TOW. Zanetti states that there were as many styles as painters in Venice at the end of the 17th century. in historical painting however the work, of the Bolognese painters as in almost every other city at this time, were likewise in enice the chief objects of attraction. Still, Jaya Lanai, the oil masters were not on this account underrated, but were spoken of as the ancients of a golden age, whose customs were to be preised, but not imitated. The colouring of the painters of this period
in `'onion was more brilliant than that of the great masters, but what they gained In brilliancy they lest in truth : in drawing, however, and in cuetutne 'unto of these painters had the advantage of their pre dominant, but in these respect.. the Venetians were never very die Ungulate'. Of these painters the following may be mentioned : Andrea Celerti, who painted sometimes in the style of Caravaggio, but more generally in the style of Paul Veronese than of any other master ; and Antonio Zanch i of piste, better known for the number than esteemed f -r the merit c f hie works, painted likewise sometimes in the style of Caravaggio and sometime, in that of l'intoretto. In the Scuola di San Room there is a celebrated picture by him of the Plague of Venice in 1630, and opposite to it in that place there is a picture of the Libera tion from the I'lague, by his scholar l'ietro Negri. Francesco Trevinani was also OW of lus scholars, but he settled early in Rome. To these may be added the names of Antonio Molinari, Antonio Giovanni Segala, Oita Antonio Fotuieni, and Niccolo Bambini. The last was the ochular of Carlo 3faratta in 'tome, and many of his pictures Sr, painted entirely In the Ronan style. But a more distinguished painter and a letter draughtsman than any of those was Grcgorio Isizza rini. who painted In the style of the butt Bolognese and Roman painters of the period, though he never left Venice. Antonio Pellegrinl acquired a name in various countries of Europe. Jacopo Amnigoni also attained great celebrity, lean in Venice, however, than in England, in Germany, and in Spain ; his pictures are extremely bright and brilliant. Other distinguished painters of this age entitled to be mentioned were Giambattista l'ittoni and GiambattistaPiazetta : the former was cele brated for his powerful effects of light and shade in the manner of Guercino, but through a bad method of colouring, his pictures in a short time lost all their beauty in this respect ; his execution was rapid and careless. He was a good caricaturist, and he was remarkably popular in his time. One of the scholars of Piezetta, Giambattista Tiepolo, was the last of the Venetians who acquired a great name. He was one of the best painters of the 18th century, and acquired a great reputation in Italy, In Germany, and in Spain, where he died at Madrid about 1770. He excelled chiefly in fresco, and he painted more In the style of Paul Veronese than that of Piazetta, [Tteeoto, in Iltoo. Div.) Ile had a distinguished scholar in Fabio Canale. Although Tiepolo may be termed the last of the great Venetian painters, there were still several perhaps of equal ability in the state. Before mentioning these however, we have yet to notice one of the greatest painters of the 18th century, who, though not a Venetian, was first educated at Venice by Cervelli, Sebastiano Ilicci, or Rizzi, born at Cividal di Belluno in 1660, and died in 1734. He travelled over Italy, and visited Germany, England, and Flanders, and earned the reputa tion of a great painter wherever he went. He had a great facility hi imitating the styles of other masters : he painted in fresco and in oil. His colouring was rich and agreeable, though he occasionally intro duced too much azure in his draperies. His composition and design were graceful ; in design he was better than the Venetians : his handling was free and yet not careless. His nephew Marco Ricci was a distinguished landscape painter. Ricci had several scholars : the most distinguished were Clasper° Daziani and Francesco Fontcbasso.