Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/493

In Venice. 463 Palace, Florence, being said by Kugler to be " almost com- parable to Rembrandt." In landscapes, Rosa worked out something of an original style, and many of his wild mountain-scenes are full of pathetic beauty. A Sea-piece in the Berlin Gallery, of a vessel being driven on rocks in a storm, is a wonderfully forcible rendering of a terrible convulsion of nature. At the close of the seventeenth century Pietro Berrettini, da Cortona (1596 — 1669), in spite of the great original talent which he possessed, exercised a most pernicious influence on Italian art by the introduction in his works of startling effects of colour and chiaroscuro, which were eagerly studied and imitated by many scholars ; thus finally sealing the fate of Italian painting, which has never again rallied from the insipid mannerism into which it sank at the beginning of the eighteenth century. 3. The Later Venetian School. Before closing the history of painting in Italy, we must mention one who has made Venetian painting of the eighteenth century famous. Antonio Canal, commonly called Canaletto (1697 — 1768), devoted many years of his life to depicting architectural scenes in Venice. His paintings, executed with great truth to nature and a freedom of touch, are especially to be admired for their correctness of perspective ; they are a lasting memorial of what Venice was in his day. Canaletto spent the years 1746 — 1748 in England, and has left us several valuable records of his visit. This country also possesses in the National Gallery (which has no less than ten works by him) and in private collections many of his Italian views. His nephew Bernardo Bellotto (1720 — 1780), who is also