The Burlington Magazine

Orazio Borgianni in Italy and in SpainAuthor(s): Harold E. WetheyReviewed work(s):Source: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 106, No. 733, The Italian Seventeenth Century (Apr.,1964), pp. 146-159Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/874271 .Accessed: 09/05/2012 21:33

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THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE NUMBER 733 VOLUME CVI

? APRIL 1964

Editorial REPERTOIRE DES CATALOGUES DE VENTES BROADLY speaking, it is fair to claim that every European nation used to make its own special contribution to the study of the art of the past, though these national divisions are getting ironed out nowadays. One could allot Roger de Piles-like marks: the German-speaking lands excelled in theory, the English in connoisseurship, the French in the poetry of criticism, and so on. There is no doubt that the Dutch excelled in documentation. A fine tradition of archival research in Holland in the nineteenth century culminated in a Hofstede de Groot, and made possible the creation of a Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie at The Hague which is unrivalled in the world as a repository of information about the art of the Netherlands. Similarly, 'Lugt', one feels, could not have emanated from any other source but the Low Countries. Though we owe the Ripertoire des Catalogues de Ventes to the audacity of a single remarkable European, the fact remains that it was a Dutchman who embarked on this formidable enterprise, and it is hard to imagine anyone of any other nation doing the same.

Forty years ago Frits Lugt set out to record all sale catalogues from the beginning of the seventeenth century on- wards. His dictionary was designed to be of the greatest possible practical use to the art historian. He decided that the bibliographical cliche of recording title pages could be dispensed with, and instead concentrated on the information which he knew researchers needed most: name of seller, auctioneer, place, date, nature of contents of sale, and so

forth; and surviving copies of catalogues annotated with names of purchasers and with prices were also noted. 150 libraries in twelve countries were consulted. In 1938 the first volume was published under the auspices of the Rijksbureau, covering catalogues down to 1825. A second volume covering the years 1826-60 appeared in 1953, and a third volume for the period 186I--I900 is due to appear at any moment, bringing the number of sale catalogues of three centuries to nearly 60,ooo. 'Lugt' has long ago established itself as the standard work on the subject. All previous efforts along the same lines have been silently dislodged from their pedestals as source material, and are now read chiefly for their charm, just as Lugt's Marques des Collections has thrown all its pre- decessors into the category of useless pretty books.

An enterprise of this magnitude has demanded from the word go a team of research workers in many countries. Much of the preliminary work has been done in England, and in the past assistants in this country have been paid from funds set up by means of contributions from British subscrib- ers. These subscriptions have made the publication of earlier volumes possible. It is now proposed to prepare a fourth volume covering the years 1901-25, and it is essential that funds should again be raised for payment of assistants en- gaged in research on the even greater number of sale catalogues surviving from this period.

On p.I84 of this issue we publish an appeal for funds for the expenses of the next volume of 'Lugt'. It is hoped that the many readers of this Journal who have blessed the existence of the earlier volumes, in their endeavours to trace works of art from one collection to another up or down the centuries, will show their gratitude by contributing gener- ously to the publication of a fourth. It is also hoped that American scholars, to whom 'Lugt' must have proved as useful as it has to their European counterparts, will not feel 'precluded', as a leading article in The Times Literary Supple- ment (23rd January 1964) put it, 'from supporting this great enterprise merely because the signatories of the appeal... address themselves primarily to English art historians'.

HAROLD E. WETHEY

Orazio Borgianni in Italy and in Spain' THE ARTIST'S YOUTH

THE Roman painter Orazio Borgianni is not unique in having worked both in Italy and Spain, but unlike many he returned to his native city when at the height of his career. Others chose to remain in Spain, still the most powerful nation in Europe, and therefore the promised land for artists from other countries. An account of Borgianni's life is given by his contemporary, Giovanni Baglione, who in the usual spirit of the period places emphasis upon anecdote.2 Never- theless, he does cite a few specific pictures and make the statement that Orazio spent many years in Spain. Among the

few precise details known about the artist's personal life are the facts that he was living in the Via Frattina at Rome in 1615 and that he was buried nearby in the parish church of San Lorenzo in Lucina on I5th January I6I6.3 Baglione is the only source for the information that Borgianni died at

1 I am much indebted to Professor Italo Faldi for his kindness in obtaining for me photographs of the Assumption and Christ Carrying the Cross in Sacro Cuore a Castro Pretorio and the frescoes in San Salvatore in Lauro at Rome, all of them previously unpublished. I also want to thank Benedict Nicolson for valuable suggestions in the preparation of the manuscript. 2 G. BAGLIONE: Le vite dei pittori, Rome [1642], pp.140-3.

3 The date of death is in the Libro dei morti. San Lorenzo in Lucina del r6o6 et seguitur, folios 217 and 324v.:

' r616 Gennaio Oratio Burgiano Romano pittore morto alla strada Ferratinafu sepolto in S. Lorenzo in Lucina adi 15'.

Orazio was listed as living in the Via 'Ferratina' (Frattina today) in 1615 accompanied only by 'Pauetti garzone' in Libro dell'anime del anno r615, San Lorenzo in Lucina, folio 46v. He seems to have moved there not many years before his death since he does not appear in the other preserved parish census of this period (1607). Nor could I find him in the baptismal books of San Lorenzo in Lucina. Both records quoted above are found in the Archivio Storico del Vicariato di Roma, Arco delle Campane, Vatican City.

The year of death was first established by ROBERTO LONGHI: 'Orazio Borgi- anni', L'Arte, xvni [1914], p.Io. Reference to Borgianni in 1615 was made by J. BOUSQUET: 'Documents sur le s6jour de Simon Vouet a Rome', tcole Franfaise de Rome, Milanges, LXIV [1952], p.289.

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ORAZIO BORGIANNI IN ITALY AND IN SPAIN

the age of 38, since his baptismal record has not been found. At the other chronological extreme of his career Borgianni

signed and dated, when only 15, the St Gregory, now in the Collection of Princess Cerami at Catania, but until 1940 in a chapel in the church of San Domenico at Taormina. The mediocre quality of the picture should surprise no one, inasmuch as the artist was scarcely more than a child.4 Then quite logically he showed familiarity with the works of the Roman Mannerists of the i58o's.5 The location of this picture in Sicily and a vague remark by Baglione have led historians to the reasonable conclusion that Orazio accompanied his half-brother Giulio there when still a boy.6

Otherwise Borgianni's exact whereabouts from 1593 to 1604-5 are shrouded in mystery, although Rome and Spain are unquestionably the places where he worked. Within this period of eleven years only two dates are recorded in specific documents: the first is that of I8th February 1604, when he signed in Rome a statement in the records of the Accademia di San Luca;7 the second is his signature placed on 9th January I605

in Madrid on the inventory of the estate of the

Marquis de Poza.8s Therefore we know conclusively that he lived in Rome in 1603-4, but that he must have gone to Spain after February 1604. His presence in Rome in I6O3 is supported by that date on the portrait of Tommaso Laureti

(Fig.6) in the Accademia di San Luca, a work listed as his by Baglione.9 He returned to Rome definitively and to stay in I605. At that time he dedicated his print of St Christopher to the Spanish ambassador to Rome 'Joanne de Lescanoa', a matter which will be clarified below. Other circumstances justify Borgianni's presence in his native city at the time of the election of both Leo XI and Paul V in April I605. One

of them involves the lost portrait of the poet Battista Guarini which must have been painted then, inasmuch as the City of Ferrara despatched the poet to Rome to pay homage to the newly elected Paul V.10 On the other hand, Giovanni Battista Marino's poem dedicated to Borgianni may or may not have been written in that particular year.1

From this cross-word puzzle of information emerges the certainty that Borgianni resided in Rome in 1603-4, and in Spain after i8th February 1604 and until April I605. At that time he surely painted the important series of pictures still preserved in the Convento de Portacoeli at Valladolid. But what about Baglione's statement that the painter spent many years in Spain, married there, and returned to Rome after his Spanish wife died ? The conclusion must be that he made two trips to the Iberian peninsula, the first one probably c.I598-I60212 and the second time with absolute certainty in 1604-5-

Most of Borgianni's pictures are datable between 1604 and his death in 1616 excepting the St Gregory in Sicily (I593)- Next I should like to consider the question of what else he might have painted in his earliest years. Just one other product of his youth in Rome c.1595-8 can be suggested: the Assumption, a strangely laboured composition, cited by Baglione (Fig.2), in the sacristy of Sacro Cuore a Castro Pretorio.13 The clear light and the strong local colours of red, blue, and dark green show little resemblance to the style of the mature Borgianni. Furthermore, the excessively large heads, and the unimaginative details, such as the big keys held by St Peter in the lower centre and his awkward foot, as well as the generally clumsy composition all suggest the efforts of an earnest student. Orazio must have been ac- quainted with the traditions of Agostino and Annibale Carracci, although at this period he in no way approaches the technical skill of those masters.14

The hypothetical first period of the artist in Spain (c. 1598- 1602) likewise provides few works whose attribution can be

4 Size 173 by 120 cm., first published by STEFANO BOTTARI in Critica d'arte, anno I [1936], p.141; also BOTTARI, Commentari, vi [1955], p.I56. LONGHI rejected the picture, apparently because of its mediocrity (Proporzioni, I

[1943], P-44) . 5 See FEDERICO ZERI, Paragone, vii, No.83 [1956], p.50. Dr Zeri gives a lengthy analysis of this picture. 6 BAGLIONE, op. cit., p.140, states that Orazio's half-brother, known as Giulio Scalzo, taught Orazio drawing; and that 'Horatio ristato in Roma' studied antique and modem works. The words quoted seem to imply that he had been in Sicily with his brother. FRANCESCO SUSINNO: Le vite dei pittori messinesi [1724], ed. VALENTINO MARTINELLI, Florence [1960], p.96, and G. DI MARZO: I Gaggini e la scultura in Sicilia, I, Palermo [I88o], P.796, both repeat Baglione's claim that Orazio learned his art from his brother. 7 The documents follow (Libro del Camerlengo, 1593-1625, Vol.43, folios 105V and Io6v) : 'lo oratio Borgiani sindico dela compania fo [faccio] fede come ho visto q. conti del sig Antonio orsino de' ganassino in un libreto quale resta apresso di noi sotto scritto dal Sig.re emanuel crisomen portugese e dal Sig.e gio. guerra allora sindichi et anco dal Sig. Agostino selini alora retore, et in fede avendo visto bene q. detti conti trovo che sono ben dati et avuto bon conto di lui et infede de la verita hofatto la presente scritta di mia propria mano quale anco [illegible word] sotto scritto dal Sig.re guido Reni rettore questo di z8 di febraro 1604.

Oratio Borgiani mano propria Io Guido Reni Rettorefui presente a quanto di sopra'

This report of 18th February I604 certifies an account of December 1603. In Luigi Salerno's commentary on Mancini the date of the report is given as I603, that is, earlier than the account which was being certified. The last digit in the date is blotted in the manuscript, thus causing this confusion. See GIULIO MANCINI: Considerazioni sulla pittura (I614-21), nI, Rome [I957], P-.I40, No.Io06.

I wish to acknowledge my debt to Professor Robert Enggass who first verified and transcribed this document for me before I was able to see it myself. 8 c. PEREZ PASTOR: Memorias de la Real Academia Espahola, xx [19141, P.I II, No.559. This document has been examined recently by the well-known Spanish scholar, Dofia Maria Luisa Caturla. It was executed in Madrid, not in Valla- dolid, as sometimes stated incorrectly. 9 BAGLIONE, op. cit., PP-72-3.

Tommaso Laureti died in Rome on 22nd Septem- ber 1602, and for that reason it has been supposed Borgianni's portrait was painted before that date. However, most of the portraits of the members of the Academy are commemorative, having been painted after the death of each artist.

10 BAGLIONE, Op. cit., p. 142, states that it was in the Accademia degli Humoristi. The suggestion of Borgianni's presence in Rome in 16o5 was first made by LONGHI, L'Arte, xvIi [1914], p. o. For Guarini's life see ALESSANDRO ANCONA and ORAZIO BACCI: Manuale della letteratura italiana, I, Florence [1926], pp.109-I2. 11 MARINO's La Galeria, edition Venice [1675], PP-33-7. The poem, a fantasy, is called Hercole Filante: d'Horatio Borgianni. As a matter of fact Marino was in Rome most of the time between I6oo and I6o6 (ANGELO BORZELLI: Il Cavalier Giambattista Marino, Naples [1898], pp.51-79). 12 The date for Borgianni's return from Spain to Italy in 1602 is a widely accepted supposition based on the theory that the artist painted Tommaso Laureti's portrait before that gentleman's death on 22nd September 1602 ('Mostra del Caravaggio', Milan [195I], P.47). See also n.9.

In recent years a theory has circulated, though never printed, that Orazio Borgianni assisted Rubens when the Fleming painted the Portrait of the Duke of Lerma (now the property of the Capuchinos of Madrid). Such a theory is un- acceptable, first because Borgianni was not in Spain at that time. Still more important, Rubens's and Iberti's letters prove that Rubens alone painted the picture between 15th September 1603 and 19th October, when he was finishing it. Another letter of 23rd November 1603 from Iberti to the Duke of Mantua states that Rubens had completed the portrait and that it pleased the Duke of Lerma. See G. CRUZADA VILLAAMIL: Rubens diplomdtico espahol, Madrid [1871], pp.86-7; CHARLES REULENS: Correspondance de Rubens, I, Antwerp [1887], pp.210o-

14, 222-3. 13 BAGLIONE, loc. cit.; the picture, seen by Baglione in the now-destroyed church of Santa Elena, was still there in the eighteenth century: FILIPPO TITI: Des- crizione delle pitture . .. in Roma, edition Rome [17631, P-35-

Baglione's explanation of the mediocre quality of the picture on the ground that the artist was ill at the time is not a reasonable one. The mature Borgianni could never have been responsible for such bad drawing and poor composition. 14 See Annibale's Assumption (dated 1592) in the Bologna Museum, the later picture (c. I6ox) in Santa Maria del Popolo at Rome; and Agostino's (c. 1592-3): 'Mostra dei Carracci', Bologna, 1956, Nos.42 and io6.

148


accepted with any degree of plausibility. One picture, however, seems without any doubt to belong to the early Spanish years, i.e. the St Christopher (Fig.4) in the collection of Florencio Milicua in Barcelona. This canvas authentically signed on the rock at the lower left 'Oratius Borgiannus Romanus' is a major product of the artist's youth. In all probability it was destined for a church of the Spanish order of the Mercedarians, since the monk who appears through the rocks at the left wears the habit and escutcheon of that order.15 The tall, youthful saint, awkward in his gigantic stride, makes a sympathetic appearance, dressed in a white costume and fluttering rose drapery. The artist's enthusiastic interest in landscape is already manifest here, in the utterly fantastic background with its towering rock formations, so agitated and shot through with flickering light.

Rocky landscape, combined with a romantic evocation of ancient Rome, serves as the background of the Christ Crucified (Fig.5) in the museum at Cidiz, once in an unidentified church in Madrid.'6 Not later than i6oo is this signed picture in which various critics have suspected the influence of El Greco.'7 It strikes me as altogether possible that the artist had seen El Greco's Crucifixion with Donors, now in the Louvre, then at Toledo in the Convento de las Jer6nimas de la Reina. The elongation of body and similarity of pose are the elements which the two pictures have in common. Treatment of sky and landscape is entirely different in the hands of Borgianni, who introduces a desolate, romantic setting of tortured rocks and ruined antique buildings reminiscent of his native city of Rome. Indeed the figure of Christ and the quality throughout the picture in no respect approach the spiritual exaltation of El Greco's masterpiece.'8

A painting similar to Borgianni's Cidiz Christ Crucified hangs in the Secretaria of the Archiepiscopal Palace at Toledo, a circumstance which implies some connexion of the artist with the city of Toledo. The variations in the landscape might suggest that the Toledo canvas is another original by Borgianni. However, the technical qualities fall well below the Italian artist's standards, and I suspect that it is a copy by some local Spaniard who then had before him an original by Borgianni.19

During his return visit to Rome in I603-4 Borgianni painted the impressively strong portrait of the grey-bearded Tommaso Laureti (Fig.6) (died 22nd September I602), which can still be seen in the Accademia di San Luca. The year I603 appears very clearly on the frame, demonstrating the fact that this work is commemorative like the others in the long frieze of portraits in the various corridors and rooms of the present building. All of them have the same kind of oval frame, the same cartouche with the name of the person represented, and the same dimensions. One may logically assume that Orazio painted this commemorative portrait because he was a friend of the Sicilian-born Laureti, with whom he would have had common interests in view of his own youth spent in Sicily.20 Someone will doubtless conclude that Borgianni had in mind El Greco's portraits of the dignitaries of Toledo, as seen in the Burial of the Conde de Orgaz. However much the costume with the ruff collar may recall Spanish portraits, it is an open question whether any technical or stylistic relationship to El Greco should be presumed.

For a moment I should like to abandon chronology in order to discuss the matter of portraits attributed to Borgi- anni. The artist (Fig.7) as he appears in the Accademia di San Luca is presented in the same format as the others just mentioned. The date 1617 upon it, a year after his death, raises the question whether Baglione and subsequent writers are correct in considering it a self-portrait. The animated frown and the play of light are familiar in Borgianni's style, but these elements are common in the period and the date 1617 casts great doubt upon the possibility of a self-portrait.

The Portrait of an Artist in the Prado (Fig.3) identified as Borgianni's self-portrait, surely is not the same man.21 The shape of the skull, the nose, and the eyes have nothing in common with the artist's features in the canvas at Rome. Even if the attribution to Orazio had been correct, the name of this melancholy, romantic personality with curly black hair, dressed in a black jacket, remains unknown.22 The Bravo at Brunswick, which likewise has been classified as a self-portrait by Borgianni, is shown to be the work of the French Caravaggesque painter Simon Vouet.23 Most recently

15 An old photograph by Vicente Moreno locates the picture in the LAzaro Galdeano Collection at the time of the Spanish Civil War (1936-8), but I have no further evidence of its recent history. A picture of this subject was once in the Convento del Angel at Granada (cited by Fray TomAs de Montalvo in 1708; see sANCHEZ CANTON: Fuentes literarias para la historia del arte espaiol, v, Madrid [1941], p.513), a convent of Franciscan nuns, who therefore must have had another canvas, now lost. 16 Signed 'Opus Horatii Borgianni' on a stone at the foot of the Cross. The picture was ceded by the Museo Nacional de la Trinidad at Madrid to the CAdiz Museum in 1879. See CPSAR PEMAN: Catdlogo. Museo de Bellas Artes, Cadiz [1952], pp. I 10-I i; j. A. GAYA NURO: 'El Museo Nacional de la Trinidad', Boletin de la Sociedad Espaihola de Excursiones, LI [947]1, P-33. 17 HERMANN VOss proposed the influence of El Greco on Borgianni (Die Malerei des Barock in Rom, Berlin [1924], p.-464; likewise N. PEVSNER: Barockmalerei in den romanischen Liindern, Potsdam [I928], pp.I40-I) ; LONGHI declared that influence as definitive in Borgianni's development (Proporzioni, I [I9431, PP-43-4). The late MARTIN SORIA took a further step by calling Borgianni a pupil of El Greco ('Velazquez and Tristan', Varia Velazqueia, I, Madrid [i960], p.457). As a matter of fact, it is not at all demonstrable that the two men ever met. 18 I have previously discussed this matter in my book, El Greco and His School, I, Princeton [1962], p. 18. Relationships exist between Guilio Bonasone's print after Michelangelo's drawing of Christ Crucified as well as Battista Franco's. JOSE MILICUA first drew attention to Bonasone's print as a possible source for Borgianni's Cddiz picture (Archivo espahol de arte, xxvI [1953], p.I83). 19 The canvas at Toledo measures 17o by 126 cm. The generally greenish smudge, the hard clouds, and the weakly drawn body of Christ add up to an inferior effort.

20 Laureti's portrait, inventory No.439, is in the corridor behind the lecture hall. He was the second 'principe' of the Academy, succeeding Federico Zuccaro in 1595-

MANCINI, op. cit., I, pp.232-3, in his biography of the Sicilian-born painter mentions Laureti's portrait but does not include the name of Borgianni as author, whereas Baglione does. See above, n.9. For an account of Laureti's work, see voss: Die Malerei der Spiitrenaissance in Rom und Florenz, Berlin [192o], pp.571-2- 21 Prado, No.877. LONGHI, Vita artistica, Ii, No.I [19271, P-9; also Proporzioni, I [19431, P.43; GAYA NURO: La pittura italiana del Prado, Florence [1961], p. Io, Fig.94. 22 The former proposal that this is Esteban March, seen in a Self-portrait, has generally been abandoned on the ground that the drawing inscribed with his name does not correspond to the Prado portrait. See SANCHEZ CANTON: Dibujos espaholes, III, Madrid [I930], pl.255. Benedict Nicolson has pointed out the fact that that the man in the Prado picture seems to be painting his own portrait, a fact which excludes Borgianni as author. 23 Size 74'5 by 58 cm., LONGHI, loc. cit., in Scritti giovanili, Florence [ed. 1961], pp.123-4. Longhi still clings to his original theory. Nevertheless, w. WEISBACH showed conclusively that the Brunswick portrait corresponds to a print in the Cabinet des Estampes, Paris, which is signed: 'Simon Vouet pinxit' (Franz6siche Malerei des XVII Jahnhunderts, Berlin [1932], PP.48-9). Virtually all critics now believe in Vouet's authorship; both Weisbach and WILLIAM R. CRELLY propose the title of Bravo rather than Self-portrait (The Paintings of Simon Vouet, New Haven [1962], cat. No.13, Fig.2).

The drawing by Annibale Carracci in the Uffizi at Florence which MICHAEL JAFFa identified tentatively as a portrait of Orazio Borgianni, c.16o5-6, also seems to represent a Young Bravo (Paragone, No.83 [1956], p.I3, pl.8b). Neither this sheet nor any of the painted portraits corresponds in physical characteristics

I49


Dr Hermann Voss has uncovered a handsome Portrait of a Painter in an unspecified location that he considers to be another self-portrait, approximately at the age of 25.24 It is very difficult to express an opinion about this work without having seen it, other than to agree that the quality is excellent. In my opinion all four pictures discussed here present different sitters, the one in Rome alone certainly displaying the countenance of Orazio Borgianni. BORGIANNI IN SPAIN I604-5 To the second sojourn of Borgianni in Spain, after February 1604 through January and probably to April of the following year, must be assigned the pictures in the high altar and the two lateral altars, a total of nine subjects, still in their original locations in the church of the Convento de Portacoeli at Valladolid. Although documentation is lacking, there can be no doubt in anybody's mind that we have to do here with the artist's largest series of works.25 The institution was the recent foundation in I6o I of Rodrigo Calder6n, then a power- fill minister of Philip III, and in 1615 it was said that the altars, paintings, and ornaments of the church were his gift,26 a fact further substantiated by the presence of his escutcheon. Borgianni's activity in Valladolid is not surpris- ing, since that city continued under Philip III to be the capital of Spain.

The high altar of white and dark-green marble includes marble sculptures of four saints and the Crucifixion in relief, as well as three large paintings by Borgianni and a predella from various hands. Here we see in the Assumption (Fig.8) that the artist's style and skill have advanced far beyond his earlier weak attempt at the same subject (Fig.2), even though he had not yet reached the apex of his powers, to be seen at Sezze Romano in i6o8 (Fig.I5). The light now flick- ers over the figures and envelops them in an all-embracing atmosphere. Correggio, Jacopo Bassano, and Tintoretto must be regarded as his ancestors here, the first two in the light, the last mentioned as contributing something to the stirring dramatic attitudes of the Apostles whom Borgianni has now organized in a fully baroque manner. I can see no hint of El Greco's supernatural visions nor of Caravaggio's bold realism and his isolation of figures in tenebrist light. Borgianni had run an independent course, but with some obeisance to the Carracci. Within his unifying light the colours are deep and rich: St Peter at the right in a dark-blue tunic and yellow drapery and St John the Evangelist, in the

right centre, in a green tunic and red drapery; in both cases the colour iconography is canonical for these saints.27 St James Major to the extreme right adds a lighter touch in his beige drapery. The seated Madonna, arms upraised, in a conventional pose, which had been used again and again from the middle of the sixteenth century, is the least successful part of the composition. Here a yellowish background of light prevails and the white-winged angels resemble those at Sezze Romano without yet attaining the same exquisite grace.

In the attic of the high altar the Annunciation occupies the left compartment and the Birth of the Virgin the right. The latter contains in embryo some of the same iconographical elements as the late masterpiece on the same theme at Savona, but it has not been developed into such a brilliant composition. The Annunciation with the angel floating upon a cloud at the left follows traditional iconography in a work of lesser quality that seems to have been executed by Borgianni's assistants.

So far as the predella is concerned, the Visitation (Fig.9) is certainly the work of the master himself.28 Even the badly blistered paint cannot conceal its interesting composition, which is also known in an exact repetition by Orazio, now in the collection of Count Leonard Vitetti in Rome.29

St Francis Receiving the Stigmata (Fig.I2) occupies the altar in the left transept, a work much darkened by time and damaged by large holes in the canvas, which badly needs conservation. Borgianni's sense of drama rises to hitherto unprecedented heights, the saint movingly characterized, strong and inward, without the pietistic cliches so common in the period. No less remarkable is Brother Leo, both hands raised in wonder at the miracle, his head and hands illumin- ated by a mysterious light in the darkness that is broken above by the burst of golden heavenly light surrounding the crucifix.

On the other hand, the Apparition of the Virgin to St Dominic in the corresponding altar of the right transept is so weak in its technical aspects that it must be ascribed largely to Orazio's workshop.30 While the artist's style is unmistakable in the design and atmosphere, his personal touch is missing. The essential elements of a scene of apparition have so often been represented in this general fashion that perhaps no specific source should be assumed. However, Sadeler's print after Ludovico Carracci's St Hyacinth (1594) may well have been known to Borgianni.

Among the most interesting scenes at Valladolid are the small canvases placed above the principal pictures in the transept:3' the Presentation of the Virgin above St Dominic and

Vienna. Yet this last work has an inscription on it: 'sig. horatio borgian romano to the man represented in the drawing by Ottavio Leoni in the Albertina at

1614' (ALFRED STIX and L. FR6HLICH-BUM: Die Zeichnungen der toskanischen, umbrischen, und rimischen Schulen, Albertina Sammlung, Vienna [1932], No.46I, and also ROBERTO LONGHI: 'Volti della Roma Caravaggesca', Paragone, No.2I

[I951], p.37, pl. 6a). The identification of any portrait as showing the countenance of Orazio Borgianni must stand or fall on comparison with the likeness in the Accademia di San Luca (Fig.7) which unquestionably represents him. We can only conclude that the inscription on Leoni's drawing is unreliable. 24 HERMANN VOss: 'Inediti di Orazio Borgianni', Antichita viva, anno I, No.2

[February 1962], pp.9-10o. 25 Elias Tormo announced his discovery of Borgianni's pictures in a lecture at

Rome, reported in Quadrivio, anno vI, No. 26 [1938], p.7, but he did not publish them. MARIA LUISA CATURLA')s article, 'Borgianni en Valladolid', confirmed the attribution and included a photograph of the Apparation of the Virgin to St Dominic. Yet her account has remained virtually unknown to Italian and German scholars because of its publication in a periodical that has a limited circu- lation (Boletin del Seminario, Valladolid University, x [1943-41, PP.99-102). To Sefiora Caturla I wish to express my thanks for various courtesies. 26 MATRI Y MONS6: Estudios histdricos-artisticos relativos principalmente a Valladolid, Valladolid [1901], p.6I5. Diego Valentin Diaz, a local artist, was paid in 1613 for painting and gilding the sanctuary (capilla mayor).

27 See a discussion of the colour iconography of Apostles, a matter largely overlooked, in my book: El Greco and His School, in, pp.99-0 o2. 28 The charming Immaculate Conception (66-5 by 93 cm), in a ruinous state like the other predella canvases, is probably by Borgianni, although the short broad proportions of the figure are unusual for him. The Marriage of the Virgin

(66.5 by

83"5 cm.) and the Flight into Egypt (same size) are provincial enough to have

been painted by one of the nuns in the convent. 29 In an excellent state of preservation, the picture measures 74'5 by 93'5 cm. It is said to have been purchased in Spain by Marshall Spink from whom it passed to Julius Weitzner, both of London. To the present owner, Count Vitetti, I am indebted for this information and for the pleasure of studying the canvas in his home. Reproduced in colour by HERMANN voss, Antichita viva, anno I, No.2 [1962],

p.I I I; also THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, C [1958], supple-

ment 3, pl.xi, and in G. MARTIN-M1RY: 'La d6couverte de la lumiere des primitifs aux impressionistes', Bordeaux [1959], No.6, pl.29. 30 Size 314'2 by 200 cm. Illustrated by MARIA LUISA CATURLA, see n.25. 31 The two large pictures in the transept are set in green marble frames, while the smaller one above in each case is grey marble.

150

2. Assumption, by Orazio Borgianni. Canvas, 213 by 155 cm. (Sacristy, Sacro Cuore a Castro Pretorio, Rome.)

3. Portrait of an Artist, by an unknown painter. Canvas, 95 by771 cm.

(Museo del Prado, Madrid.)

4. St Christopher, by Orazio Borgianni. Signed. Canvas, 162 by 1I8 cm. (Collection Florencio Milicua, Barcelona.)

5. Christ Crucified, by Orazio Borgianni. Signed. Canvas, 241 by 167 cm. (Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes, Cadiz.)

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6. Tommaso Laureti, by Orazio Borgianni. Dated 1603. Canvas, 66 by 50 cm. (Accademia di San Luca, Rome.)

7. Orazio Borgianni, by an unknown painter. Dated I6I7. Canvas, 66 by 50 cm. (Accademia di San Luca, Rome.)

8. Assumption, by Orazio Borgianni. 1604-5. Canvas, 350-7 by 213'4 cm. (Church of the Convento de Portacoeli, Valladolid.)

9. Visitation, by Orazio Borgianni. 1604-5. Canvas, 67-3 by 94 cm. (Church of the Convento de Portacoeli, Valladolid.)

T:?"- MAE=", TWOi ... ........?;


the Circumcision (Fig.I o) above the altar of St Francis. The former (Fig.II) reveals more clearly than any other work that the artist admired Tintoretto, whose famous Presentation in Santa Maria dell'Orto at Venice is paraphrased here. Not only the general idea of a composition of figures ascending a flight of steps diagonally but the very tall proportions, which henceforth appear again in Borgianni's pictures, are obviously indebted to the Venetian. Nevertheless, Orazio did not forget his native Rome, for in the background just to the left of centre he introduced the well-known medieval Torre delle Milizie. The domed church, even though Roman of the Cinquecento, cannot be identified with any particular building. Not so obviously revealing in its sources is the Circum- cision (Fig.Io), a more tenderly human document than the Presentation. Skilfully planned in the subordination of secondary figures and in the organization by light, it gives special emphasis to the Madonna, tall and slender in her long, smoothly flowing robes. The picture provides a direct link to other works that we shall consider shortly. But the strikingly Tintorettesque St Anne at the left, back turned, should not be overlooked.

These pictures at Valladolid constitute not only one of Borgianni's most extensive commissions but also one of his most important. In Spain otherwise there remains only the record of five pictures in the Convento del Angel at Granada, all of which seem to have been destroyed by the French troops who sacked the building during the Napoleonic wars.32

With our present limited knowledge of minor masters active in Spain during the early years of the seventeenth century, it is virtually impossible to propose any specific artistic interchange between them and Orazio Borgianni. Vicente Carducci, the Florentine who migrated to Spain in 1585, lived in Valladolid in I6oi-6 during Borgianni's sojourn there. Yet the two artists could not have been friends or admirers of each other's work, inasmuch as Carducci did not even mention the Roman painter in his well-known treatise Didlogo de la pintura (1633).33 So far as I can judge, Borgianni was a passing phenomenon who left little or no impression upon his Spanish contemporaries. The only seventeenth-century writer even to mention him was Jusepe Martinez in his Discursos practicables del nobilisimo arte de la pintura (c.I673), who reports Borgianni's low opinion of Spanish masters.34 Martinez also states that on his way to Madrid Orazio stopped at Saragossa, where he visited a painter, called Pedro Horfelin, a man whom he had known earlier in Italy.

BORGIANNI IN ITALY ( 1605- I 6) Only a few dates can be precisely fixed in the remaining years (I605-I6) of Borgianni's short career when most of his best creations flowed from his brush. Among them is the date of the etching of St Christopher, signed 'H B' on the rock below the saint's foot,35 a date which can be definitely established

because of a dedication: 'Joanne Lescanoa serens. Legationis regie Catolice Maestatis apud Sanctissimum D. H. P. Paulum P P Quintum.' The only person whose name in any way corresponds to this was Juan Fernandez Pacheco, Duke of Escalona, the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See during the years 1603-6. Despite the fact that Lescanoa is a strange Latin translation for Escalona, he must be the man. Therefore the print is datable 1605-6, after the election of Paul V in April I605, subsequent to Borgianni's arrival from Spain. Baglione himself speaks of works done for the Spanish ambassador after the return to Rome. It is significant that Orazio's patrons were often the rich and politically influential Span- ish, as in this instance, and also in the case of the print of the Lamentation, to be discussed below. Moreover, the Spanish monks at San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane commissioned the famous picture of St Charles Borromeo adoring the Trinity.

In the etching of St Christopher a rocky background across the river recalls the fact that the early painting of the same subject (Fig.4) in Barcelona also has a stony setting, although by no means exactly the same. Several paintings of St Christopher exist in which the figure is virtually identical with the print, but the distant background of harsh hills in dark reddish brown is shrouded in the darkness of night. The best version (Fig.I3), entirely by Borgianni's own hand, is exhibited in the National Gallery of Scotland at Edinburgh.36 The tenderly human interpretation of the theme of the boldly foreshortened giant, who discovers that his burden is the Infant Christ, well accounts for the success of the work. The soft play of light and the delicacy of modelling fit perfectly with Borgianni's mature style. Another version, belonging to Hermann Voss in Wiesbaden, disappeared in World War II.37 A workshop replica is kept in storage at Edinburgh, while the University Museum at Wtirzburg possesses an altogether mediocre copy, devoid of the landscape background. An inferior Spanish version in San Vicente at Seville must have been painted using the print as a model, since it strays far from the original painting.38

Borgianni seems to have been fascinated by giants at this time (c. i6o5-6), when the David and Goliath in Madrid might

32 The Nativity, Epiphany, SS. Stephen, Augustine, and Christopher, cited by Fray TomAs de Montalvo in I708 (sANCHEZ CANT6N: Fuentes literarias, v, Madrid [1941], p.513). See also n.I5. 33 Published by sANCHEZ CANT6N, op. cit., II [933], pp.63-I 15. 34 Loc. cit., 1, p.50. The commentary in the footnotes placing Borgianni in Spain in I6oo-4, is inexact. 35 ADAM BARTSCH: Le peintre graveur, xvi, Leipzig [1870], No.53. The name 'Horatius Borgiannus' occurs at the end of the inscription that runs below the

picture and the print is also signed with the monogram 'H B', upon the rock beneath St Christopher's left foot.

Two copies of the print in the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome have an additional signature 'Jacobus de Rubeisformis Romae' and in one case the words 'alla Pace' also. Therefore these two sheets must be later impressions made by the printer who signed his name and had his shop near the church of Santa Maria della Pace. 86 Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture, Edinburgh [1957], No.48; transferred to canvas in 9I0o; attributed by WAAGEN to Caravaggio (Treasures of Art in Great Britain, im, London [1854], p.270). It is, of course, impossible to say whether this St Christopher is the one by Borgianni listed in the collection of Giovanni Vincenzo Imperiale of Genoa in 1661, among the pictures offered for sale to Charles II of England. See LUZIO: La galleria dei Gonzaga, Milan [1913], p.307. 37 Size 96 by 71 cm. Dr Voss believes that the picture is in Russia. It was exhibited anonymously at the Nassauisches Landesmuseum, Wiesbaden in an exhibition, 'Italienische Malerei des 17 und I8 Jahrhunderts' [1935], Fig.7; also shown in Berlin in 1929: see Berliner Museen, L Jahrgang [1929], Heft 2, p.26, Abb.6. To Dr Voss I am indebted for the above information. I presume that the same picture is the one reproduced by w. DROST: Adam Elsheimer, Potsdam [19331, p.46. 38 The storage replica at Edinburgh (99'4 by 74 cm.) has a darker background than the one on exhibition, the flesh tints are redder and the drapery slightly yellowish (see n.36). The small copy (74'5 by 54 cm.) at Wiirzburg has been in the University Museum since the middle of the nineteenth century. I wish to express my thanks to Dr E. Kieser of Wiirzburg for the photograph and other data about this item. Photograph of the item in Seville by the Laboratorio de Arte, University of Seville.

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also be placed, in view of the physiological correspondence to the St Christopher. The young hero diligently sawing off the head of the enormous sprawling body of Goliath39 produces an effect more comic than horrifying. Although among the artist's least successful efforts, it may be the work mentioned by Baglione as painted for the ambassador from Mantua. Curiously enough Orazio disregarded the Biblical account of the event in which David cut off the head after he had killed the giant with a stone. The soft light and the predominance of orange-brown and dark-red in the costumes, nevertheless, produce pleasing colour effects.

Among Borgianni's most extraordinary and most original compositions are the signed Death of St John the Evangelist (Fig. I) in Dresden and the attributed Three-hundred Christian Martyrs in Chalcis in Milan.40 In both cases one is struck by the huge figures, Mannerist in their proportions, particularly in the latter case, where the great muscular frames recall Roman Mannerism of the time of Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro. In no other picture is that Roman inheritance so marked during Borgianni's whole career, thus constituting an exception, if the attribution is correct. Nevertheless, Tommaso Laureti, who was certainly a friend of Orazio, also maintained that same tradition as late as I6oo, when he painted the Martyrdom of St Susannah, still on the high altar of her church in Rome. It is reasonable to believe that the younger painter admired the work of his friend who was prominent enough to have been elected head (principe) of the Accademia di San Luca.41 On the other hand, the distant landscape with small figures lightly sketched looks forward to the Birth of the Virgin at Savona. Possibly the subject, includ- ing so many soldiers, accounts partially for the unusual nature of this work in which the colours too revert to late Roman Mannerism. Pale blue, yellow, and red predominate: the youth in a pale-blue tunic at the right about to be shoved into the great burning yellow pit, the soldier beside him to the right in a light-blue tunic and red armour, at the left the kneeling youth wearing grey hose, blue breeches, and a dark-red jacket.

The Death of St John the Evangelist (Fig. I) (with the monogram of interlaced initials 'O B') presents the artist in his most poetic and imaginative vein. On the one hand, the long slim figures provide a link to the Valladolid Presentation and Circumcision (Figs.Io, I1). Yet in tenderness of mood, in facial types and in the exquisite play of light it stands close to the Christ Among the Doctors (c.I6o5-Io) in London

(Fig.I7).42 Here the expressive gestures and wan averted face of Christ remind one of the drama projected in the artist's celebrated picture St Charles Borromeo Adoring the Trinity. In His rose tunic and blue mantle He dominates the scene, as the turbaned elders press about Him, they dressed

in more sombre tones of grey, golden-brown, and black. In some respects this picture is the most stirring of all Borgianni's creations.

Here too (c. 1605-I o) belongs the Christ Carrying the Cross (Fig.16) first attributed by Longhi but never before photo- graphed.43 The inexpressible pathos and the thoughtful resignation of Christ, reflected in the bend of the body and the weightlessness of the hands, are augmented by the soft- ness of the light and the lovely colour of the rose tunic. In these two pictures (Figs.16 and 17) the young and the mature Christ remain consistently in character.

Borgianni rarely dated his pictures, the Apparition of the Virgin to St Francis (Fig.15) at Sezze Romano being excep- tional in the inclusion of an inscription, 'Benedictus Melchiorius F. F. 1608', above which is the donor's escutcheon of three gold fleurs-de-lis against carmine. A soft light plays over the lower part of the composition, illuminating the saint's com- panion as it moves about the edges of his upraised hands and his shoulders. Maria Luisa Caturla has already drawn attention to the fact that in the Stigmatization of St Francis in Valla- dolid (Fig.I2) the artist produced similar effects of miracle with gesture of body and play of light.44 At the upper left against a vast area of light-yellow clouds and an aureole of delicately sketched cherubs's heads, the Madonna appears in a pale-rose tunic and dark-blue mantle. Her countenance recalls that of female figures in the early works of Guido Reni whom Orazio had known in I604.45 The Madonna and the kneeling grey-robed St Francis create a long diagonal, the major pictorial emphasis of the design. The angels who attend her and the heavenly chorus at the upper right are most exquisitely painted with pale-blue and white contrast- ing in both wings and draperies. Borgianni like a seventeenth-century Correggio is at his best here,46 having advanced well beyond the fine Assumption at Valladolid (Fig.8).

Other famous pictures followed in rapid succession during the last few years of Orazio's short life. His masterpiece St Charles Borromeo Adoring the Trinity is best known of all because of its location in San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane at Rome, the renowned church of the architect Borromini. He interpreted with dramatic fervour this new saint, canonized in I6IO, whose features were well known in portraits made during St Charles's lifetime. In the brilliant-red costume of a cardinal, the saint rises impressively in an attitude calculated to be seen from below, since the picture originally occupied

39 In the library of the Academia de San Fernando, Madrid. H. voss, op. cit.,

p.465; G. MARTIN-MARY: 'L'age d'or espagnol', Bordeaux [I9551, P-9.

40 The Death of St John the Evangelist was first published by HERMANN VOSS, Antichita viva, anno I, No.2 [1962], p.I I. Dr Voss purchased it from the Neupert Gallery at Zurich for the Dresden museum in 1943. The attribution of the picture in Milan (size 177 by 132 cm.) is credited to LONGHI, Vita artistica, anno ii, No.i [I927], pp.6 and 8. In the museum it is still given to Tanzio da Varallo. 41 For bibliography of Laureti see n.2o. 42 When in the Smith Barry Collection at Marbury Hall it was tentatively attributed by WAAGEN to Caravaggio (Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain, London [18571, p.410o); first published by FEDERICO ZERI as Borgianni in

Paragone, No.83 [1956], p.53. Dr Zeri suggests that the half-length composition descends from the Venetian Cinquecento, but surely at a considerable distance.

43 LONGHI, L'Arte, XVII [19141, p.22. The Christ Carrying the Cross (97.8 by 1 i8 cm.) in the Royal Chapel at Portici

is a strange picture, since the large man in a turban at the left so closely resem- bles the style of Borgianni's Christ among the Doctors (Fig. 7). Yet the other figures, the composition, and the hard drawing are not characteristic of Borgianni's work. Since the restoration, which was completed by the Soprintendenza at Naples in the autumn of 1963, the disparity in quality and style between the turbaned man and the other figures in the canvas at Portici is even more evident than before. The picture must have been completed by another hand, either in Borgianni's workshop or after his death. Previously published by BENEDICT

NICOLsON, THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, CV [1963], p.2 1, Fig.26; 'Caravaggio e Caravaggeschi, Catalogo della mostra', Naples [1963], p.22. 44 See n.25. 45 See n.y. 46 The picture at Sezze Romano was attributed to Lanfranco by CANTALMESSA

in Bollettino d'arte, anno vII [1913], pp.x89-90o; exhibited at the Pitti Gallery, Florence, in 1922 as by Borgianni and included in the catalogue: OJETTI, DAMI, and TARCHIANI: La pittura italiana del seicento e del settecento alla mostra di Palazzo Pitti, Milan [1924], pl.35; also LONGHI, Vita artistica, anno II, No.I [19271, P-9, and all other writers.

154

Io. Circumcision, by Orazio Borgianni. 1604-5. Canvas, 132'5 by 128 cm. (Church of the Convento de Portacoeli, Valladolid.)

12. St Francis Receiving the Stigmata, by Orazio Borgianni. 1604-5. Canvas, 314 by 198 cm. (Church of the Convento de Portacoeli, Valladolid.)

II. Presentation of the Virgin, by Orazio Borgianni. 1604-5. Canvas, 138 by 122 cm. (Church of the Convento de Portacoeli, Valladolid.)

13. St Christopher, by Orazio Borgianni. Panel transferred to canvas, 102 by 77 cm. (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.)

14. Lamentation, by Orazio Borgianni. Canvas, 71 by 86 cm. (Museum, Palazzo Venezia, Rome.)

15. Apparition of the Virgin to St Francis, by Orazio Borgianni. Dated 16o8. Can- vas, 380 by 250 cm. (Cappella del Cimitero, Sezze Romano.)

16. Christ Carrying the Cross, by Orazio Borgianni. Canvas, lo2 by 102 cm. (Sacristy, Sacro Cuore a Castro Pretorio, Rome.)

17. Christ Among the Doctors, by Orazio Borgianni. Canvas, 76 by 104 cm. (Collection Julius Weitzner, London.)

18. Lamentation, by Orazio Borgianni. Fresco, 57 by 67-5 cm. (Sacristy, San Salvatore in Lauro, Rome.)


the high altar of the pre-Borromini church.47 He adores the heavenly vision of the Trinity which is painted in tones of pale-blue and white against the yellowish sky, already familiar in the angelic revelation at Sezze Romano (Fig.I5). The picture is signed with the monogram 'O B' and dated by nearly all writers c.I6I1-12 on the assumption that it was ready at the time of the consecration of the original chapel in the latter year.48

The ancient Roman sculpture and capital upon the ground remind one of Borgianni's enthusiasm for antique remains, of which both Baglione and Susinno speak.49 The relief, repre- senting the marriage of Peleus and Thetis in the presence of Juno, is a well-known terra-cotta of the school of Cerveteri, now in the Louvre at Paris. Proof that it was in Rome in the early seventeenth century is provided not only by Orazio's picture but also by its presence in a painting by Valentin de Boullogne where it serves the purpose of a table.50 This instance is not the only evidence of Orazio's admiration of ancient Rome, for he introduced romantic views of the city in his Christ Crucified (Fig.5) and in the work to be discussed next.

The large canvas, St Charles Borromeo Visiting the Plague Stricken, which depicts an historical episode of 1576 during a great plague in Milan, is closely contemporary with Borgi- anni's other picture devoted to the same saint.51 The humble devotion of the saint to his people is stressed as he walks among them, weary and bent in his cardinal's red robes, the large nose and angular features delineated with unsparing realism. Again the rocky landscape, the round Roman tomb (perhaps that of Augustus), the romantic darkness, and the soft light make a touching and poetic scene.

The portrait of a Cardinal, now in the possession of Morris I. Kaplan at Chicago, so patently recalls Borgianni's interpretation of St Charles Borromeo that Dr Zeri has recently attributed it to the artist.52 An arresting picture in its baroque organization and foreshortened space, it is surely no ordinary ecclesiastical portrait, but rather a Cardinal who is a saintly commentator on the Scriptures.

Although I do not believe it possible or significant to place exact dates on these late works of Orazio, all must be products of his last years (c. 161 o-I 6). Among them one of the most impressive is the large Birth of the Virgin in the second chapel to the right in the Santuario della Misericordia not far outside of the city of Savona.53 The homely realism of the

scene is less related to Caravaggio than to Jacopo Bassano. The composition includes the presentation of the new-born child to Joachim in the middle ground, while St Anne, lying in bed, is attended by servants in a recessed chamber partially screened by a red curtain which, with the architecture, makes a division of the picture space into two major sections. The general effect of the scene is colourful, with its deep rich tones of rose, blue, and brown that are contrasted to the whites in the bodices and sleeves of the women. The impasto has a thick creamy texture of great beauty. The atmosphere spreads broadly without any suggestion of tenebrism, the colouristic impression being brilliant thanks in great part to the disposition of the whites. In the immediate foreground the kneeling woman with back turned is magnificently painted in a golden robe which turns rose-coloured in the shadows. She is strongly reminiscent of Tintoretto, and one cannot help but think of the much later Legend of Arachne by Velhzquez in the Prado Museum. A tall youth with bare shoulders bends toward her, as he pours water into the basin. The women in golden brown prepare the baby's white clothes, placed in the basket at the left, a detail that recalls the Holy Family with St Anne in Rome.

The prominent location of the picture last mentioned in the National Gallery of Rome accounts for the fact that many critics think of Borgianni's style primarily as it appears in this instance.54 The delicate flow of light over the figures and the characterization of St Anne and St Joseph present nothing unfamiliar, yet otherwise a new trend manifests itself in this, one of Orazio's latest productions (c. 1615). The two infants, above all, in their solid and vigorous bodies display a Caravaggesque realism and sculptural quality that had not been present hitherto in Borgianni's work. Even the angel, charming as he plays the violin, has more substance and reality than the exquisite heavenly creatures of Sezze Romano. The extraordinary strength and veracity in the painting of the brown wicker basket, heaped with white linens and russet-coloured shawls, has often been remarked. Scarcely less striking is the Infant Baptist's sheepskin, lined with a lovely salmon-coloured cloth, lying in the left foreground. The background, which is black except for the red curtain to the right, also reflects the Caravaggesque current, as the figures stand out clearly: St Anne in grey-blue and white, St Joseph in yellow over very dark green and the Madonna in rose and deep blue. Thus in his last years Borgianni turned from the poetic tenderness of Sezze Romano and Savona to a bolder and more earthy mood allied to the Caravaggesque tradition.55

According to Baglione, Caravaggio spoke badly of Borgianni, a statement which may or may not be true, since

47 Size 2 7 by 151 cm. The picture, which now hangs over a doorway in the sacristy, must have been moved from the high altar of the earlier chapel before Borromini's church (1638-46) was consecrated. It is cited by BAGLIONE; F. TITI: Descrizione delle pitture ... in Roma, Rome [first edition 1686], p.270, states that Borgianni's painting was formerly in the high altar, but that it was hanging in the library in his day. He describes the picture (c.1646) by Pierre Mignard in the high altar of Borromini's church, just where it still is now. 48 LONGHI, L'Arte, xviu [I914], p. 12; Scritti giovanili, I, p.I2o (colour plate), p.I26, n.5. The Spanish brothers who have occupied the convent from the beginning are Trinitarians, hence the double dedication of the church and the picture to the Trinity and to St Charles Borromeo. 49 See n.6. 50 Valentin's composition, painted in Rome, is now in the Louvre. See WEIs- BACH, op. cit., PP.74 and 361; for the relief: H. VON ROHDEN and WINNEFELD: Die architektonische romische Tonreliefs der Kaiserzeit, Iv, Berlin [1 9''], part I, pp.245-6, part 2, Taf.xi. 51 Size 3oo by 141 cm. Now in the Spanish Collegio dei Mercedari in Piazza Buenos Aires at Rome, it was originally in Sant'Adriano a Campo Vaccino; cited by BAGLIONE [1642] and by TrrI: op. cit. [1686], p.178. 52 Size 94 by 79 cm. Formerly the property of the Duke of Bedford; WAAGEN attributed the picture to Caravaggio (Treasures of Art in Great Britain, II, p.284). 53 Size 251 by 150 cm. First cited by c. G. RATTi: Descrizione delle pitture, sculture ed architetture dello stato Ligure, Genoa [I 780], P-44; also LONGHI, L'Arte, xvii

[1914], pp.x6-I8; voss: Die Malerei des Barock in Rom, p.465; 'Mostra del Caravaggio [I95I], No.74. An inscription on the left wall in memory of Franco Borsotto, founder of the chapel in which the picture is located, is dated 1623. 54 Size 257 by 202 cm. Originally in the convent of San Silvestro in Capite at Rome, it went after the suppression of the institution to the Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici who lent it to the baroque exhibition at the Pitti Gallery in 1922. LONGHI first mentioned it in L'Arte, xix [1916], p.240, and thereafter other writers: F. HERMANIN: Catalogo della Reale Galleria d'Arte Antica di Roma, Bologna [19241, p.-56, No.245; H. voss, op. cit., p.464; 'Mostra del Caravaggio' [I951], p.48, No.73, etc. 55 I am in agreement with PROFESSOR WATERHOUSE who considers Borgianni's previous development independent of Caravaggio (Italian Baroque Painting, London [1962], p.37.) Professor Wittkower has also suggested that Orazio might have developed as he did without knowledge of Caravaggio (R. wrITTKOWER: Art and Architecture in Italy 16oo-175o, London [1958], PP.43-4).

157


one can put no faith in any remark that Baglione made about his bitter enemy. It is possible that Caravaggio had not even met Borgianni, who was young and little known in Rome in the first years of the seventeenth century. At any event Borgianni's name does not appear in the documents of August-September 1603 concerning Baglione's charge of slander against Caravaggio, although the latter mentioned a number of the leading painters of Rome whom he said that he knew. 56 However that may be, before he died Borgianni was attracted by Caravaggesque realism, an element notably absent previously.

The Caravaggesque fashion is even more clearly marked in two other late pictures of the Holy Family with St Anne, one of them in the collection of Roberto Longhi in Florence and a second, almost identical version, formerly in a private collection at Vienna.57 The powerful dark-haired Madonna and the wrinkled St Anne have bold and sculpturesque bodies in which their physical existence in light is stressed. The baby, too, a dove in hand, comes close to the life of the street. This shift at the end of Borgianni's life to a style of monumental reality, comparable with that of such Caravag- gesque masters as Caracciolo and Orazio Gentileschi, makes one wonder what would have happened if Borgianni had lived another twenty years.

Borgianni's last dated work is the print of the Lamentation, with the year 1615 inscribed on the right edge of the table and signed 'H B'. The long Latin inscription, which includes a dedication to Don Francisco de Castro, Count of Castro and Duke of Taurisani, ends with the full name of the artist, Horatius Borgiannus.58 Castro held a long series of important posts in the time of Philip III, being viceroy at Naples and Valencia before he went to Roma as ambassador (i609- i6).59 As previously remarked, we see that Borgianni's most important patrons were Spaniards.

The foreshortened figure of Christ in Mantegna's famous picture of the Dead Christ, now in the Brera at Milan, had obviously impressed the Roman master, as every writer has recognized. Nevertheless, the spirit of Borgianni's work is entirely different in that he was concerned with the tragedy of the event and the sorrow of the mourners: the grieving Madonna at the left, the young St John the Evangelist, who kisses His hand, and the Magdalen whose face is entirely hidden by her mantle.60

Two paintings on canvas of the same composition pre- sumably preceded the engraving, although datable about the same time. Professor Longhi considers the version in his collection to be the original6l. The richness of colour within the transparent veil of light is impressive, particularly the Magdalen's lovely yellow cloak and St John's brilliant red drapery over a green tunic. Balancing these two figures, the Madonna in a dark-blue cloak and white veil bends toward the body of her dead Son. The quality of the picture in the Palazzo Venezia (Fig.I 4) is only slightly, if at all, inferior to the one just discussed,62 with the possible exception of the modelling of Christ's legs. Here the light falls more directly upon the Madonna's chin, forehead, and clasped hands. In both cases the details, such as the limp greenish-grey hand of Christ and the grey vase of ointment with gold edges, are memorable. Some retouching can be detected in both canvases.

An earlier version of the same theme is Borgianni's fresco (Fig. 18) in the sacristy of San Salvatore in Lauro at Rome.63 This hitherto unphotographed composition, despite its lamentable state of deterioration and the crude retouching of the Madonna's head, has significance in showing how the artist first conceived the subject with a simple placing of the Madonna at the left and St John at the right. The latter appears as a young boy and less devastated by grief than in the print. The head of St Jerome in fresco just beneath the Lamentation, though not cited by Baglione, seems logically to have been painted by the same artist at the same time.64

Curiously enough this simpler composition of the Lamenta- tion has been repeated in copies more frequently than the engraved picture, despite the latter's greater accessibility to other masters in this medium. The canvas in the Palazzo Spada at Rome, which generally has been regarded as an original, is the best example in oil that follows the composition of the San Salvatore fresco.65 In colour the painting is less brilliant than in the later version (Fig. 14) because of the absence of the Magdalen's yellow costume. Otherwise the flesh tints are perhaps ruddier here and Christ's flesh greyer. Possibly an original picture of this composition was also known in Spain, inasmuch as a provincial Spanish copy exists in a remote and little-known collection in the palace at Epila, near Saragossa, now the property of the Duke and

56 See the documents in WALTER FRIEDLAENDER: Caravaggio Studies, Princeton

[19551, pP.271-9. Artists were often influenced by painters whom they did not like, as in the

case of Baglione himself who adopted Caravaggio's tenebrism. A different situa- tion is that of El Greco who was profoundly influenced by Michelangelo, although he once said that 'Michelangelo was a good man, but he did not know how to paint.' This statement refers to the mid-sixteenth-century argument over the relative virtues of colour and of drawing, and does not imply personal antipathy. See WETHEY: El Greco and His School, I, p.g. 57 Longhi's picture on canvas measures 95 by 79 cm.; it is signed with the initials 'O B' on the lower part of St Joseph's staff. I have seen this work, but the owner reserves the right of publication.

The second version, measuring 98 by 82 cm., was published by OTTO BENESCH: 'Ein Bild von Orazio Borgianni', Belvedere, Jahr IX [1930], pp.220-I. Its location since World War II has not been established, nor can I determine whether the two items could be one and the same picture. 58 The date 1615 can be clearly seen on the copy in the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, whereas the numerals are faint in the example in New York. Certain of the Borgianni prints after the Biblical scenes from Raphael's Logge are also dated in the same year. BARTSCH, loc. cit., Nos. 1-52. He mentions the Lamentation, but gives no data, since he had not seen a copy of it. 59 LUIS CABRERA DE C6RDOBA: Relaciones de las cosas sucedidos en la corte de Espa~ha desde T599 hasta 1614, Madrid [1857], pp.x4, 163, 368, 539, passim. 60 In Mantegna's picture the Madonna and St John the Evangelist, both at the

left side, are completely subordinated to the figure of Christ. Borgianni could have seen either of Mantegna's two versions of the subject, one of which was in Mantua during the sixteenth century. See HANS TIETZE: 'The Cristo in Scurto by Mantegna', Art in America, xxix [I941] P.53. 61 Size 71-5 by 86 cm., formerly in the Mingoni Collection, Rome; published by LONGHI, L'Arte, xix [1916], p.247; Proporzioni, I [I9431, p.42; 'Mostra del Caravaggio' [9511], P-.49, No.75 (wrong dimensions). 62 The picture was the gift of Prince Ruffo to the Galleria Nazionale and shown in the Corsini Palace. After World War II it was transferred to the Palazzo Venezia (see Catalogo. Museo di Palazzo Venezia, Dipinti, Rome [1948], p.46). 63 BAGLIONE, Op. cit., p.142, and all modern writers. 64 Size 60o5 by 67-5 cm. 65 Size 55 by 77 cm. FEDERICO ZERI: La Galleria Spada, Rome [19541, P-44, Fig.24.

The lost picture described as 'Cristo morto con un angelo e S. Francesco= Orazio Borgianni' was probably a variant of the type in the Palazzo Spada. See Catalogo dei quadri e pitture esistenti nel palazzo ... Casa Colonna, Rome [1783], p.121, No.931. No composition that exactly fits this description is known today.

Another lost work which must also have been a Lamentation is described as 'Horatio Burgeany: A piece of Our Savour on the table'. It is cited in 1635 in the inventory of the Duke of Buckingham's Collection at York House (THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, X [1906-7], p.379). I am indebted to Benedict Nicolson for calling my attention to this item.

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Duchess of Alba.66 Another rather crude copy in the sacristy of San Domenico Maggiore at Naples has, unlike the one in Spain, long been known.67

In spite of the few specific data that have survived relative to Orazio Borgianni's career, his personality as a painter now emerges clearly. Even though he was a relatively secondary master, there is no doubt of his independence and originality, just at the critical period of transition from late Mannerism to the Baroque. His first efforts as a young boy show no great promise, while the cycle of paintings at Valladolid identify for the first time a painter of emotional depth and dramatic impact. Nowhere does he reveal his sources more clearly than in the Presentation of the Virgin (Fig.ii), unmistakably inspired by Tintoretto. His fondness for effects of soft envelop- ing light, which appear in the Assumption at Valladolid (Fig.8), is by no means unprecedented, since numerous artists from the time of Correggio through Barocci and later masters of the seventeenth century exploited them. It is significant that Borgianni's pictures have often been confused with those of Lanfranco (1582-1647), born in Parma, most of whose works were painted after Borgianni's death. Another master of the Parma-Modena school, Bartolomeo Schedoni (1578-1615) is nearer to Orazio in his use of light than is Caravaggio. In this broad stream of pictorial style Orazio Borgianni's works belong. Simply because he was active in Spain, critics have declared El Greco to be the major influence in his development. I can see no relation to El Greco's colour or to his glacial supernatural light so overpowering in the Gloria of the Burial of the Conde de Orgaz or celebrated late

masterpieces such as the Annunciation at Villanueva y Geltrfi and the Adoration of the Shepherds in the Prado Museum.68 Belief in Borgianni's primary dependence on El Greco could only be reached by the deceptive comparison of photographs rather than with reference to the original paintings of both masters. Borgianni is an artist of fine sensibilities and superior

pictorial imagination, but he belongs solely to the tradition of the Italian Baroque with its roots in Correggio and the Venetians rather than in the exotic and highly personal art of the Venetian-trained genius known as El Greco.

APPENDIX LOST WORKS (not mentioned above) Lost works cited by Baglione: St Sebastian; St Christopher (very large); St Christopher in San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome; portrait of Guarino; Polyphemus.

The collection of Vincenzo Giustiniani in 1638 had four pictures by Borgi- anni: a Self-portrait; a portrait of his mother; a Moor; and the head of an old man (LUIGI SALERNO: 'The Picture Gallery ofVincenzo Giustiniani', THE BURLINGTON

MAGAZINE, CII [I960], pp.-I43-5); the second item may be the picture sold later in Paris (see c. P. LANDON: 'Galerie Giustiniani', in Annales du Musde, Paris [1812], p. I46, pl.69).

In 1664 the inventory of Pedro de Arce of Madrid included a picture of Anthony and Cleopatra by Borgianni, 2 by 1-3 varas (1.67 by

I.I I m.); see MARIA

LUISA CATURLA: 'El coleccionista madrilefio Don Pedro de Arce', Archivo espaiol de arte, xxI [1948], p.301.

WRONG ATTRIBUTIONS (not mentioned above in the text or notes) Triumph of a Roman Emperor, two canvases, Prado Museum, Nos.237-8, now identified as by Domenico Gargiulo. In the Buen Retiro inventory of 1701 they were attributed to Borgianni and likewise in Antonio Ponz's description of the palace (Viage de Espafla, vi, Madrid [1776], Real sitio de Buen Retiro, paragraph 29). CEAN BERMUlDEZ: Diccionario, I, Madrid [18oo00], pp.161-2, includes this item, but otherwise he merely translates Baglione. They are not frescoes as LONGHI thought (L'Arte, XVI[I9I1914], p.Io).

Agony in the Garden, Museum, Brunswick. voss to Lelio Orsi (MiinchnerJahrbuch, vI [I911], p.235; LONGHI to Borgianni (Vita artistica, ii, No.I [1927], p.9; Proporzioni, I [1943], p.42).

The Calling of St Silvester and the Martyrdom of St Stephen, San Silvestro in Capite, Rome, dated I6o9-1o (ILARIA TOESCA, Bollettino d'arte, anno XLV [1960], pp.293-6). Not related to Borgianni; the attribution to Giacinto Brandi (born 1623) must also be ruled out.

David, Villa Borghese, Rome, by an unknown Caravaggesque master; no longer given to Borgianni (PAOLA DELLA PERGOLA: Galleria Borghese, I dipinti, II, Rome [I959], pp.84-5, Fig.I 17).

Dead Christ, Severino Spinelli, Florence (formerly) (FIOcco, GRONAU and SALMI: La raccolta Severino Spinelli, Florence [1928], Cat. No. 125, pl.40o).

Dead Christ, Angelo Cecconi, Florence (M. NUGENT: Alla mostra della pittura italiana del 6oo a 7oo, I, San Casciano

[1925], p.23). Judith. Size 127 by 97 cm. Albrecht sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 1938, No.II5

(photo at the Courtauld Institute, London). Liberation of St Peter (Lepke Sale, Berlin, I6th October 1928, No.I8o, 127 by

105 cm). Madonna and Child, Lord Spencer, Althorp (M. R. WADDINGHAM: 'Notes on a

Caravaggesque Theme', Arte Antica e Moderna [196I], p.313). The physical types do not correspond closely to Borgianni's.

St Charles Borromeo, Colonna Gallery, Rome, reattributed to Lanfranco (LONGHI, Proporzioni, I [19431, P-42).

St Charles Borromeo in Prayer, Antonio Grandi, Milan (formerly) (LONGHI, loc. cit.)

A whole series of wrong attributions made by E. RAVAGLIA (Bollettino d'arte, anno II [1922-31, pp-241-53): they were properly rejected by LONGHI (Propor- zioni, I [I9431, P-43) ; Card Player, Bartolini Collection; Martyrdom of St Lawrence, Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome; Madonna and Child with St John, Cathedral, Velletri; Holy Family with St Anne, San Michele Arcangelo, Velletri; Dead Christ, Santa Maria in Trivio, Rome (not in that church); Dead Christ, Brasini Collec- tion, Rome; Dead Christ, Capparoni Collection, Rome.

66 Measures 62 by 74 cm. Photograph Archivo Mas, Barcelona, No.G 41o84. The property at Epila, for centuries a possession of the Duques de Hijar, was bought by the Albas in recent years. 67 LONGHI, L'Arte, xvII [1914], p.2I. It is placed over the entrance door within the sacristy. 68 El Greco painted the Prado Adoration (c.1612-14) for his own sepulchral chapel in Santo Domingo el Antiguo at Toledo, where it remained until purchased by the Madrid Museum in 1954. Luis Tristan testified in 1618 that he had seen El Greco paint the picture (see WETHEY, Op. cit., I, p.50, II, pp.26-8).

Surprisingly, PROFESSOR ROBERTO LONGHI has declared this and several other of El Greco's most famous pictures to be 'not autograph', in an article in which he published two new attributions that are unlikely to be accepted by authori- ties on El Greco (see Paragone, No. 159 [19631, PP.49-56).

HOWARD HIBBARD AND IRMA JAFFE

Bernini's Barcaccia

THE fountain known as the Barcaccia (Fig.21), like a number of works produced in Rome during the decade I625-35, exhibits a new spirit, a dynamic integration of previously independent elements; in this respect it epitomizes the style we usually call the high or full Baroque. It is the first Roman fountain that can be so characterized and yet the identity of

its author is still debated. The following essay investigates the meaning and the historical milieu of the Barcaccia before making what is, hopefully, a definitive attribution based on style and documentary evidence.

The fountain is a source of Rome's favourite water, the Acqua Vergine. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

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