Ellozzard rival to the fame of Fortnny—less versatile, but showing somewhat keener perception of character and a more distinct pur pose to suggest more than surfaces in his compositions—was Edouard Zamacois, who was born at Bilboa in IS4o and died in r87r. He was a pupil of Meissonier, imitating his careful method of technique and com position, but infusing into them more genuine feeling. Zamacois was ft humorous satirist. He was a keen observer of human foibles, and, while lie makes us laugh, lie also leads us to think—a rare quality among the artists of the Hispano-I talian school. Zamacois drew his subjects, apparently, from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but the vices and weaknesses he satirized are common in our time. Among his best known works are The Favorite nf the King (p1. 66, fig. 4), The Refectory of the Trinitaires at Rome, The Education of a Prince, The Two Confessors, and the inimitable composition entitled The Entrance to the Convent.
Malian is evident that the Spanish school of painters of this century is eminent for technical qualities, but lacks in permanent interest and in the reflective qualities which cause a work of art to teach and elevate as well as to entertain. The Italian school of this century began even later and is still less important. It has produced no painters equal to Zamacois or Fortuny. Indeed, most of these Italian painters of the frivolous phases of society have been pupils of Fortuny or his col leagues.
Add& l'ertunni, in whose case an exception may be made, is a Yea politan landscape-painter who occupies a position in serious art almost as solitary as that of Gisbert in Spain. Vertunni was a pupil of an obscure artist named Pergola. His subjects are taken from Egypt and the East, from the Roman Campagna and the wastes and wilds of the Abruzzo. He is, fortunately, a man of means, and can indulge his tastes at leisure. He paints with a full brush, in a free, original style, regardless of schools and criticisms. His landscapes are full of deep sentiment, of true sym pathy with what is grand or impressive in picturesque nature or in ruins great with the associations of ages. The Pyramids is a noble painting by Vertunni, and his Ruins of Peestum must take rank in beauty and impres siveness with the great landscapes of the century.
A figure- and landscape-painter of an altogether different vein is G. Boldini, born at Ferrara in 1844, whose art-life has been passed chiefly at Paris. A disciple and friend of Fortuny, he is an avowed imitator of his style, and has therefore added nothing to the progress of art. C. Attilio Simonetti, a native of Rome and a pupil of Fortuny, belongs to the same school.
Tojetti, born at Rome in 1849, is one of the prominent con temporary painters of the nude. Tojetti is in some respects the most capable of this Hispano-Italian school. He studied in Paris under Gerome and Bouguereau, and in 1870 removed to America. Tojetti is a figure-painter, and his skill is particularly manifested in his pictures of children. As an example of the style of this artist in his studies of child-life we give A Casey Corner (p1. 65, fig. 2). Among his other suc
cessful compositions are The Veiled Prophet of Kborwssan, Love's Tempta tion, Sleeping cupid, The Favorite, and A Little Accident.
Francesco Paolo Michetti, born at Chieti in 1852, a graduate of the Paris studios, partakes of a similar style, but is inclined to treat art more seri ously. He is a genre-painter. Among his chief works are Shepherdesses izz the Abruzai, A Misty lforning in Rome, and Children at the Fountain.
Domenico illorellz; born in 1826, a native of Naples, is a landscape-, genre-, and history-painter, who in such subjects as Saul calmed by David and Mater Dolorosa sometimes shows deep sentiment. Evening in Venice and Conrad and illedora indicate other phases of his talents, which are • respectable, although not entitling him to a high rank.
E. Andreotti occupies a foremost position among contemporary Italian painters in genre. His works are known in America chiefly through engravings, from one of which is reproduced in Figure (O/. 66) his Court ship. The compositions of this artist evince careful study and a thorough knowledge of his art.
Giuseppe de iVittis of Barletta, born in 1846 and died in 1884, was identified with the French school. He excelled in genre, architectural views, and landscape, and might have achieved eminence but for his early death. His style resembled alternately that of Meissonier and that of GerOme. Among his prominent works are The and Place des Pyramides, Paris.
Gaetano born at Reggio in ISA is one of the most popular of the recent painters of Italy, and is well known in America through his works brought to this cour.try. He is a painter of humorous genre with interiors. IIis style is highly finished, exhibiting, much technical skill, but lacks breadth, while the subjects he selects, in which children play a part, are qualified to entertain the observer. The Desperate l'enture 65, Jig. 4) is an admirable example of the compositions of this artist. His II Ylitne's Dinner, Fun and Frt:;ht (at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, at Washington), and The Bath are also well-known works.
Lutki is a painter whose works are known to only a lim ited circle, but he is one of the best of living Italian artists. A student of art at Paris, he is as much a French as an Italian painter. His field is genre and animals with landscape. He designs with care, paints broadly and at the same time with no sign of lack of finish, and pays especial atten tion to preserving the relation of light and color as in nature—called, in the language of the art-schools, the "values." The style of this artist's compositions is exemplified in The Turkeyherds (Jig. 3).
Doubtless there are other painters of more or less ability now engaged in the practice of art in Italy, but those we have mentioned are the most important. While thankful for what they have accomplished toward reviving the art of painting in that country, it must he frankly admitted that Italy is at the present time far behind other Continental nations in the pictorial arts and suggests little of the prodigious activity and excel lence of her former schools of painting.