Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/519

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than in the production of impressions from copper-plates. He afterwards entered the service of the King of Poland,[1] Avhere he no longer exercised the art of copper-plate engraving, which was then held to be beneath his pretensions, but devoted himself to the treatment of gems, to the production of intagli, and to architectural labours. Being largely rewarded for all that he did by the generosity of the above-mentioned sovereign, Caraglio was enabled to expend large sums which he invested in purchases of land in the territory of Parma, to the end that he might pass his old age in the enjoyment of his native country, and the society of his friends and disciples, securing at the same time that repose demanded by the labours of many years.

After the above-named masters came Lamberto Suave,[2] also an excellent engraver of copper-plates. By his hand we have thirteen plates, representing Our Saviour Christ with the twelve Apostles, and which, as regards the engraving, are brought to the utmost perfection. If Lamberto had been as well versed in design as in execution, and as his works prove him to have been endowed with industry, thought, and care on all other points, he would have been a truly admirable master of his art. Of this we have clear proof in a small plate of San Paolo writing, and in a larger plate which contains the Story of Lazarus raised from the Dead, wherein there are many parts which are most beautiful. The hollow of a rock in the cavern, which forms the burialplace of Lazarus, is particularly to be specified, with the light which falls on some of the figures, as giving manifest evidence of rich and fanciful invention.

Much ability in the same pursuit was also displayed by Giovan-Battista of Mantua,[3] a disciple of Giulio Pomano; this was rendered obvious in a picture of the Madonna among other works: Our Lady has the Divine Child in her arms, and the Moon beneath her feet. Certain heads, wearing helmets after the antique manner, engraved by Giovan-Battista, are also of great merit; as are two plates, in one of which is a Captain of the Forces, on horseback, and

  1. Sigismund the First.
  2. For the artists of this name, properly Suster or Sustermann, see Zani, Enciclopedia Metodica, &c.
  3. The already mentioned father of Diana and Adam of Mantua.