Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/203

173 SOLIMENA— SPAGNA. Gallexy. In the LouTre, is a picture of Adam and Eve in Paradise; and another of Heliodoras expelled from the Temple. {Dominici, Lanzi,) SOBRI, PiETRO, (. in the Sienese, 1556, d. 1622. Sienese School. He Btadied first under Arcangelo Salim- beni, and afterwards at Florence, under Passignano, whose daughter he mar> ried. He also studied with success the works of Paul Veronese, and ac- quired many of the qualities of his ornamental style. His pictures are in the public buildings at Florence, in Pavia, Genoa, and at Pisa, where, in tiie cathedral, is the Consecration of that Church ; and a Christ disputing with the Doctors. {Baldinucci,) SPADA, LioNELLO, 6. at Bologna, 1576, d. at Parma, May 17, 1622. Bo- lognese School. A scholar of the Carracci, and one of the most distin- guished both in fresco and in oil ; but he studied afterwards ynth. Baglione, and contracted a friendship with Den- tone. A rivalry with Guide led him to study also under Michelangelo da Ca- ravaggio at Home, and he accompanied that painter to Malta. He returned to Bologna, having formed a completely new style, comprehending much of the force and brilliancy of Caravaggio, without his coarseness of style ; yet he was called by his rivals the ** Scimia," or Ape of Caravaggio. Spada was, however, much employed in Bologna, Reggio, Modena, and Parma, where he was appointed Court painter by the Duke Banuccio. He superintended the decorations of the Theatre of Parma. Dissipation and disappoint- ment, shortly after the death of his patron, carried Spada also to the grave, and in the prime of life. His master- piece is considered San Domenico burning the proscribed books of the heretics in the church of that Saint at Bologna : other superior works are — the Miracle of St. Benedict, in San Michele, in Bosco: Sosannah at the Bath, in Modena: several in the Church of the Madonna, at Beggio: and St Jerome ; and the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine, at Parma: the Betum of the Prodigal Son ; and three other pictures in the Louvre. The Gallery of Bologna possesses a single work only, Melchisedec, by Spada. {Malvaaia.) SPAGNA, GlOVAKNI DI PlETBO, called Lo Spaona, and by Yasari, Spag- NuoLo. Made citizen of Spoleto, in 1516 ; painted in 1507, living in 1530. Umbrian School. This painter is con- sidered the best colourist, and the most distinguished of Perugino's scho- lars, after Baphael. So long as he conformed with the character of the school of Perugino, he developed a peculiar beauty of form, by which his works are distinguished above all those of his fellow scholars : he latterly gave himself up to the imitation of Baphael's later style. One of his best pictures, his master-piece, says Bu- mohr, is in the chapel of San Stefano, in the lower church of San Francesco, at Assisi (painted in 1516) ; it repre- sents the Madonna enthroned, with several Saints ; '* these are grand and severe figures,'* says Eugler, *< full of genuine feeling and purity : '* the Ado- ration of the Magi, eJso, of San Pietzo di Ferentillo, near Spoleto, long attri- buted to Baphael, is now, it appears by some, justly restored to Lo Spagna. The original picture, once the property of the Anc^jani family, is now in the Berlin Gallery, still under Baphael's name; it is on canvas, and in tem- pera. Lo Spagna painted completely in Baphael's earlier manner; it is stronger in colour, and light and shade, than bis works generally are. The same character, to a less degree, is observable in Spagna's fresco of the Madonna, witH four Saints, in the Sala del Consiglio, at Spoleto. The