A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
and by its fine design, the animated expression of
the heads, and its entire harmonious effect, gives
this artist a Ligli rank amongst the painters of the
Milanese School.
CERVELLI, Federico, was a native of Milan, who flourislied about the year 1690. He was the pupil of Pietro Ricchi, called II Lucchese, whom he equalled in the freedom of his pencil, and surpassed in the correctness of his design and the impaste of his colour. One of his finest paintings is in the Scuola di San Teodoro, Milan, and repre- sents an episode in the life of that saint.
CERVETTO, Giovanni Paolo, was bom at Genoa about the year 1630. According to Soprani, lie was a scholar of Valerio Castello, whose vigorous style he imitated with great success, but he died young, in 1657.
CERVI, Bernardo, was a natire of Modena, and a scholar of Guido. He possessed an extraordin- ar3' genius, and, in the judgment of his excellent instructor, would have reached a high rank in art, had he not been cut off in the prime of his life by the plague, which visited Modena in 1630. His principal works are his frescoes in the cathedral at Modena, in the churches of which cit}" there are some altar-pieces by him, and a ' Deposition from the Cross ' in the Este Gallery. There is a print by him, the ' Martyrdom of St. Sebastian,' with his name abridged, and the date 1628.
CESA, Antonio, who lived in the 16th century at Belluno, but of whose birth or death no dates can be given, is the painter of an altar-piece in the church of Sunt' Andrea, Visome, near Belluno, which represents the 'Virgin and Child, between SS. Anthony, Daniel, Andrew, and another saint,' signed "Ores Antonii de Cesa 1500."
CESA, Ma'iteo, was an artist living at Belluno in the 14th and 15th centuries, of wliose life and death no exact dates are known. Paintings and altar-pieces by this painter may he found in several of the private collections and churches in and around Belluno. The best specimens of his style are:
Belluno. -S. Stefano. Virgin and Child, rith Saiuts and Angels (carved irork). Sala. & Jfatteo. Virgin and Child between SS. Matthew and Jerome.
CESAR, a French historical painter, who was working at Avignon in 1367. He possessed con- siderable talent, and acquired great renown, which was celebrated in the verses of Parasolz B., a con- temporary troubadour of Provence.
CESARE DA SESTO (or Cesare Milanese). See Sesto.
CESARI, Bernardino, was the brother and pupil of Giuseppe Cesari, whom he assisted in many ' of his works. He also painted several pictures in the churches of Rome, entirely after the style of his brother. For Clement VIII. he executed a large fresco in St. John Lateran, representing the Emperor Constantine in a triumphal car, with many figures. He died at Rome in the prime of life during the pontificate of Paul V. The church of San Carlo ai Catinari possesses a picture of 'Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene,' by this artist.
CESARI, GiDSErrE (called Giuseppino, and also II Cavaliere d'Arpino, from the birthplace of his father, in the kingdom of Naples) was bom at Eome in 1568 (?). His father was a very humble artist, who earned a miserable pittance by paint- ing ex voti, and who taught his son what he knew of art, with the view of his succeeding himself. The young Cesari employed his leisure moments in improving himself in drawing, and, at the age of thirteen, obtained his father's consent to go to Rome in search of employment. Arrived in that capital, he was under the necessity of offering his services to prepare the pallets of the artists who were then employed in the Vatican under Gregory XIII. He had been some time in that servile situation, when he took an opportunity, in the absence of the painters, to sketch on the wall some figures which excited the surprise and admiration of every one, particularly Fra Ignazio Danti. the superintendent of the works of the Vatican. He ac- quainted the Pope with the circumstance, who immediately' took the young artist under his protection, and placed him in the school of Pomarancio, and Giuseppino, in a short time, was regarded as the most distinguished painter at Rome. He was a perfect master of the arts of intrigue, and had the talent of exalting the merits of his own productions, whilst he depreciated the works of others. Clement VIII., who succeeded to the papal throne, continued to him the favour and protection he had experienced from his predecessor, and conferred on him the knighthood of St. John Lateran, or, as som.e say, the order of the Abito di Cristo ; and Louis XIII. made liim a Chevalier of the order of St. Michael. Abusing a natural facility, and yielding to the fire of an unrestrained imagin- ation, Cesari appears to have skimmed the surface of art, without venturing to dive into its deptlis. Finding that he could satisfy the popular expectation without the labour of study, he did not think it necessary to consult nature or the best models of antiquity. By strair:ing the attitudes of his figures, he expected to give them animation and move- ment; and when he attempted expression, he fell into distortion and grimace. Those of his works in which these defect.s are least discernible, are such as admit of bustle, and require a crowded composition. Such are his battle-pieces and pro- cessions, in which the horses are drawn with great spirit, and his readiness of invention is surprising. With all his deficiencies, he enjoyed, during his life, an elevated rank among the artists of his time, and his school was one of the most frequented in Rome. He died at Rome in 1640. Baglione states that he lived to the age of eighty, hut other writers assert, with greater pirobability of accuracy, that he died at the age of seventy-two. The following are among liis extant paintings:
Cassel. Gallery. The Betrayal of Christ. „ „ Nymphs and Tritons. Dresden. Gallery. A Eoman Battle. Fauo. Castracani History of General Castruccio Cas- Palace. tracani- fresco. Florence. trff'^'- Portrait. htisian } Scenes from the Life of Christ — Monastery. J frescoes. Louvre. Adam and Eve driven from Paradise. ,. „ Diana and Actason. Petersburg. Hermitage. St. Clara delivering the Town of Assisi. Keggio. Cttihedral. The Visitation. „ S. Prassede. The Ascension and The Prophets- frescoes. „ Capitol Pal. Eomuliis and Eemus— fj'fsro. „ ,, Rape of the Sabine 'W'ouieu. „ „ The Horatii and Curiatii. „ „ The Sacrifice of Numa Pompilius „ Capitol Miis. Diana. Naples. CartEusian Seer --istery.]
Paris.
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