A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
John Adolphus, Duke of Sase - 'Weissenfeld. 1745.
This is considered his lest plate.
Sebastian Felix, Baron von Sehwannenberg.
Christianus, Prince of Denmark.
.Tohn Gottfried Kichter, Antiquary.
BERNINGKOTH, Martin, a German engraver, born at Ramelsburg in the county of Mansfelden, in 1670. He resided at Leipsic, where lie engraved a great number of portraits in a tolerably neat manner, among which are :
Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, on horseback. Frederick Augustus II. King of Poland. He died at Leipsic in 1733.
BERNINI, Giovanni Lorenzo, the sculptor and architect, was the son of Pietro Bernini, a Florentine painter and sculptor. He was born at Naples in 1598 ; and occasionally practised the art of paint- ing. His own portrait painted by himself is in the Uffizi at Florence. He died at Rome in 1680. Milizia, in his Vite dagli Archileiti, gives a list of his works in sculpture and architecture. In France he is called ' Le Cavalier Bernin.'
BERNUIS, Bartolome del Rio, a Spanish painter, was a scholar of Gaspar Becerra. He chiefly practised his art at Toledo, where he held, for the last twenty years of his life, 1607-1627, the post of painter to the Chapter.
BERNYNCKEL, Johann, an engraver, whose works are little known. There is a small oval print by him of the ' Adoration of the Shepherds,' after Johann von Aachen, which is not without merit.
BERRAIN, Jean. See Berain.
BERRE, Jean Baptiste, born at Antwerp m 1777, painted subjects ir the manner of Weenix. He afterwards settled in Paris, where his pictures are esteemed for their great finish and fine execution. He died in Paris in 1828.
BERRESTYN, C. V., a German engraver, who flourished about the year 1650. He engraved some plates of landscapes, among which is one repre- senting a woody scene, signed with his name and the above date. It is very scarce.
BERRETTINI, Pietro, (or Berettini,) commonly called Pietro da Cortona, was born at Cortona in 1596. He was first instructed by Filippo Berrettini, his uncle, and afterwards by Andrea Comniodi, whom he accompanied to Florence, and there en- tered the atelier of Baccio Ciarpi, where he devoted himself to the study of the antique, the reliefs of Trajan's column, and the works of Raphael and Michelangelo. He resided for many years in Rome. The first productions of Berrettini that excited attention, were two pictures, painted whilst he was yet very young, for the Ordinal Sacchetti, representing the ' Rape of the Sabines,' and the ' Battles of Alexander.' They attracted the notice of Pope Urban VIII., who commissioned him to paint a chapel in the church of Santa Bibiena, where Ciampelli, an artist of reputation, was at that time emploj'ed, and who regarded with contempt the audacity of so j'oung a man venturing on so important a public undertaking ; but Berrettini had no sooner commenced the work than Ciampelli was convinced of his ability. The success of that performance procured for him the commission for is celebrated work of the ceiling of the grand saloon in the Palazzo Barberini. It represents an 'Allegory of the History of the Barberini Family.' The richness of the composition, the perfection of the chiaroscuro, the harmony of the colour, and the splendour of the style, render it one of the most perfect specimens of decoration. It has been observed, that the drawing is not the most correct, and that the draperies have not the ap- pearance of nature; but the acknowledged beauties of this great work are so agreeable and seductive, that it is impossible to contemplate it without admiration. After having finished the cartoons for some oil paintings for the mosaics of the dome of St. Peter's, Berrettini travelled through Lombardy, visited Venice, and returned to Rome, by way of Florence, where he was engaged by the Grand Duke Ferdinand II. to paint the saloon and four apartments in the Palazzo Pitti ; here he represented the ' Clemency of Alexander to the Family of Darius ; ' the ' Continence of Cyrus ; ' the 'Firmness of Porsenna;' the 'History of Masi- nisea ; ' and other subjects. He did not entirely finish the works he had projected for the Grand Duke. Disgusted by the intrigues of some artists who were jealous of his reputation, he left Florence abruptly, and could never be prevailed on to return. His frescoes were finished by Ciro Ferri. On his arrival at Rome he continued to be loaded with commissions, and was emplo3'ed by Alexander VII., who conferred on him the order of the Golden Spur. The works of Berrettini exhibit a most fertile in- vention and an uncommon facility of operation. His figures are not designed with scrupulous cor- rectness, nor are the heads of his females strictly beautiful ; but they have always a grace and love- liness that charm in spite of those deficiencies. If his colouring is not always chaste, it is agreeable, and possesses much of what the Italians call I'rtgr- hezza. His powers were particularly adapted to the great works that require to be executed in fresco, to which he gave a brilliancy and force nearly approaching to oil painting. Berrettini died at Rome in 1669. His best disciples were Dandini, Ciro Ferri, Francesco Komanelli, Pietro Testa, Luca Giordano, and Jacques Bourguignon. He was also an architect.
The following is a list of his principal paintings :
Brussels. Museum. Cortona. iS". Agostino. Dresden. Gallery. Dulwich. College. Florence. rffi.-i. „ fitti Pal. Hague. Gallery. London. Devonshire H. Kortlihrook Col Milan. Brera. Munich. Pinakothek. Paris. Louvre. Vetershuig. Hermitage. Kome. Yi-nna. Parherini Pal. Chiesa Xuova. S. Maria dei Cappuceini. j Cilery. Marriage of St. Catharine. Virgin and Saints. Mercury warning .£neas to hasten his departure from Carthage. A Koman General addres.«ing the consuls. St. Martina triumphing over the idols. Portrait of himself. Frescoes (see text). Holy Family. Landscape. Magdalene with Angels Virgin with Saints. Woman taken in adult, ry. Jacob and I.aban. Birth of the Virgin. St. Martina before Alexander Severus. Virgin and Child k St. MartiL.i. Romulus and Eemus. Dido and ^neas. Holy Family. Christ and the Magdalene. M.irtyrdom of St. Stephen. Allegory — fresco. Paintings on nave, dome, and tribiuie. Conversion of St. Pail. St. Paul and Ananias,
lieturn of Hagar.
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