A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTTIONARY OF
and was one of the ablest scholars of Carlo Sacchi.
He afterwards passed some time at Rome ; and oii
his return to his native city, met with encourage-
ment in painting historical pictures of a small size.
He was also employed for the churches.
CICERI, Pierre Luc Charles, a French artist, born at St. Cloud in 1782, was chiefly engaged as an architectural decorator and painter of theatrical scenes. He is stated to have executed four hundred opera decorations. He also produced some paint- ings in water-colour, among which are views of the Ponte di Saniti and Piazzetta della Cappella Vecchia in Naples, and of Interlacken, Brunnen, and Baden-Baden. Ciceri married a daughter of Jean Baptiste Isabey, the miniature painter, and died at St. Ch6ron in 1868.
CIENNI DI Francesco di Seb Cienni. See Cennini.
CIERINCX (or Cierings). See Kierincx.
CIERKENS, Jean, a Belgian painter of historical and genre subjects, was born at Bruges in 1819. He studied in the Academy of his native city, and under Wallaj-s and Wappers at Antwerp. He died at Rome in 1853.
CIETENER, D., was a painter who from his style appears to have belonged to the Flemish school. There is in the Berlin Gallery the ' Bom- bardment of a Fortified Town,' which is signed by him, and dated 1630.
CIEZA, Josef de, the son and scholar of Miguel Geronimo de Cieza, was born at Granada in 1656. He acquired much facility in painting in distemper, and, going to Madrid in 1686, was employed to paint scenes in the theatre of Buenretiro, and became painter to the king in 1689. He likewise painted in oil historical subjects, landscapes, and flower-pieces. He died at Madrid in 1692.
CIEZA, Migdel Geronimo de, a Spanish painter, bom at Granada, was one of the best scholars of Alonso Cano, whom he imitated both in drawing and in colour. He painted historical pictures with reputation, and according to Palomino, his best works are in the Convent of the Angel, and in the Hospital of the Corpus Domini, at Granada. He died in Granada at an advanced age in 1677.
CIEZA, Vincente de, a Spanisli painter, and a nativeof Granada, was the son and pupil of Miguel Geronimo de Cieza. Having lost his father he went to Madrid to his elder brother Josef, whom he succeeded as painter to the king in 1692. He returned to Granada in 1701, and died there soon after his arrival. His works are confounded with those of his father in Granada, and with those of his brother in Madrid.
CIGNANI, Conte Carlo, a distinguished painter of noble family, of the Lombard School, was bom at Bologna in 1628. He was of an honourable family, and his first essays in the art were some drawings he attempted after the pictures in his father's collection. He was first placed under the tuition of Giambattista Cairo, but he afterwards entered the academy of Francesco Albani, and became the most celebrated of his disciples. The works of Correggio and the Carracci had an in- fluence in the formation of his style. On his return to Bologna, he was employed by the Cardinal Famese to omament the great saloon of the palace at Bologna, where he painted his celebrated work of the ' Entry of Pope Paul III. into Bologna,' and the ' Passage of Francis L' through that city. He aften,vavds visited Leghorn and Rome, where he stayed three years, during which time he painted among other works two pictures for the church of Sant' Andrea della Valle, representing subjects from the life of that Saint ; and several pictures of Venus. On his return to Bologna he was em- ployed in the execution of some important works in San Michele in Bosco ; they represent scenes taken from the time of the Plague, and are in the style of Correggio, painted in ovals, supported by angels of extraordinary beauty, and are held amongst the most admired features of that city. He also executed several paintings for the nobility: amongst others, for the Archbishop of Milan, a ' Holy Family ; ' for Prince Adam of Liechtenstein, ' Cupid,' ' Bacchus,' ' Danae,' and a ' Virgin and Child.' After decorating the gallery of Duke Ranuccio II. at Parma, he was knighted by that prince and by the Pope. Other important works by him are, ' The Virgin treading on the head of a Serpent,' for the cathedral at Piacenza ; ' Joseph tempted by Potiphar's Wife,' for the Marquis Pal- lavicini ; ' Hagar and Ishmael,' for the King of Poland ; 'The Descent from the Cross,' and 'Christ as a Gardener,' for Louis XIV. The great monu- ment of his fame is the cupola of the duomo at Forli, which occupied him from 1686 to 1706. It represents the ' Assumption of the Virgin,' an im- mense work of tlie highest merit. After having finished this grand composition, he was elected senator of that town, and Clement XL appointed him president of the newly-founded Clementine Academy at Bologna. Such was the attachment of his pupils to Cignani, that, whilst he was still working at Forli, they followed him there, where his instruc- tions were continued until liis death in 1719. During the latter period of his life, he painted among other pictures 'Aurora,' for the Marquis d'Albiccini ; ' Adam and Eve,' for the Cardinal Spinola; 'The Birth of the Virgin,' for Clement XL; 'John the Baptist as a Child,' and 'Jupiter nursed by the goat Amalthea,' for the Elector- Palatine John William. The following are some of his best works :
Berlin. Copeuhageu. Drestlen. Dulwich. Florence. Hague. Munich. Petersburg. Vienna. Museum. Gallery. Gallery. Gallery. Uffizi. ), Gallery. Pinakothek. ,, Hermitage. Venus and Anchises. Joseph and Potiphar's Wife. Tarquin and Lucretia. Holy Family. Joseph and Potiphar's Wife. The Magdalen. His own Portrait. Madonna and Child. Temptation of Adam and Eve. The Infancy of Jupiter. The Assumption of the Virgin. Charity. Madonna and Child. The Roman Charity.
His paintings may also be found at Hampton Court and in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth. He died at Forii in 1719. Cignani's powers were more profound than prompt; he conceived his subject with facility, but be found difficulty in finishing it to his satisfaction. Though his works always seem finished, they have nothing of the appearance of labour. In his design he emulated Correggio, without arriving at the grandeur and vagueness of contour that are peculiar to his unrivalled model. In his colouring he resembles rather the suavity of Guide than the tender blending of Correggio. Like the Carracci, he possessed a faculty, by means of extraordinary relief, of making his figures appear larger than they really are. He excelled in painting women
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