Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/54

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A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF


Manchester, and Paris, and a diploma of merit was forwarded from the last of these. He was one of the founders of the Institute of British Architects. Amongst his architectural works are: Christ- church, Higlibury, the Cambridge Military Asylum at Kingston, Kennington Workhouse, and St. Peter's Church, Netting Hill. Amongst his paint- ings, which exhibit true feeling and nice execution, are those of the 'Cities of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor,' which were engraved in the ' Art Journal ' in 1862-3. He died at Barnes, in October, 1872.

ALLOKI, Alessandro, also culled Alessanduo Bbonzino, was born at Florence in 1535. He was the son of a painter ; but having the misfor- tune, when he was only five years of age, to lose his father, he was placed under the care of his uncle, Agnolo Bronzino, who brought him up with all the affection of a parent. Before he was seven- teen years of age, he had made such progress under this able master, that he painted, from his own design, an altar-piece representing the Crucifixion, a composition of several figures, ingeniously arranged and well coloured. When he was nine- teen, he visited Rome, where lie remained two years. The chief objects of his admiration and study in that city were the works of Michelangelo, and the grand style of that master is discernible in his pictures. On his return to Florence, he was greatly occupied for the churches and other public edifices. He was, however, occasionally prevailed on to paint the portraits of some of the distinguished personages of his time, which he treated in a great and admirable style. In 1590, he published Dialogo sopra V arte del diseynare le Figure, illustrated with anatomical plates. " Some of his pictures in Rome, representing horses, are beautiful. His ' Sacrifice of Isaac,' in the Royal Museum, is coloured almost in the Flemish style. He was expert in portrait painting, but he abused his talent by introducing portraits in the modern costume in ancient histories, a fault not uncommon in that age. On the whole, his genius appears to have been equal to every branch of painting ; but it was unequally exercised, and consequently un- equally expanded" {Lanzi). In the Berlin Gallery there is a female portrait by him, probably representing Bianca Cappello, wife of Francis II. of Tuscany ; and there are no less than sixteen works by him in the Uffizi, Florence. He died at Florence in 1607.

ALLORI, Angiolo, called II Bronzino, an eminent Florentine painter and poet, was born at Monticelli near Florence in 1502. He studied first under an obscure painter, then under Raffaelino del Garbo, and subsequently became the favourite disciple of Jacopo Carrucci, called Pontormo, and assisted that master in some of his most consider- able undertakings, particularly in the chapel of San Lorenzo at Florence, which he was employed to finish after the death of that master. He ap- pears to have studied with attention the dignified style of Michelangelo, and there is something of the grandeur of that master discernible in all his productions. His principal works are at Florence and Pisa. He worked both in fresco and oil. He also excelled in portraits, and painted the most celebrated personages of his time, among whom were Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch. He frequently painted the portraits of Cosimo I., Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his wife Eleonora, and there are inany replica besides. He died at Florence in 1572. The following are some of his most important works :

Dresden. Gallery. Florence. Academy, Badia. S. Lorenzo. S. Girolamo d. Povt'riuo. Pitti Pal. VJizi. London. Aa(. Gall. Ltirca. Communal Gal. ,, Royal Palace. Mailrid. Museum. Paris. Louvre. Petersburg. Hermitage. „ Leuchtenherg Col, Kome. Bori/hese Pal. Viouua. Gallery, Portrait of Cosimo 1. Portrait of his wife, Eleonora Pieta. Cartoon for the 'Descent into Hades. St. Benedict on thorns (fresco). Martyrdom of St. Laurence (fresco,. y Noli me tangere (fresco). Holy Family. Portrait of Co.simo I. Portrait of Francesco I. de' Medici, and others. The Descent into Hades (his masterpiece) Portrait of Pontormo. Descent from the Cross. Annnuciatiou. Pieta. BROS; fac: An Allegory — Prosperity crowned by Victory. BROz: fac: Portrait of Eleonora, wife of Cosimo I., and others. Portrait of a Ijidy. Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time. A Knight of St. Stephen. Portrait of Cosimo I. Portrait of Piero de Medici. Portraits of two cliildren. Portrait of Cosimo I. Portrait of Cosimo 1. The Violin-player. Male portrait. Portrait of a Lady. Portrait of a Lady. Portrait of a Lady, bronzino f . Portrait of Cosimo I. Holy Family. buAzino fioekh-TINO. Portrait of Cosimo I. Portrait of his wife Eleonora.

ALLORI, Cristofano (sometimes called Bronzino), the son of Alessandro, was born at Florence ill 1577. He was for some time instructed in the art by his father, but he afterwards studied under Santi di Tito, and finally improved himself in colouring by imitating tlie harmonious tinting of Lodovico Cardi, called Cigoli. He painted several considerable works for the churches and convents at Florence, and for the palace of the Medici. He was also a very celebrated portrait painter ; and many of the distinguished persons of his time were painted by him. Owing to vicious habits that often seduced him from his labours, his works are extremely rare, and he liimself comparatively little known. The 'St. Julian' of the Pitti Palace is the grandest effort of his genius; his picture of 'Judith with the head of Holofemes,' also in the Pitti Palace, is, however, of wider acquaintance. Judith, so beau- tifully and magnificently attired, is a portrait of his mistress ; the attendant is that of her mother, and the head of Holofernes that of the painter. Numerous copies of this fine work (which has been engraved no less than thirteen times), and duplicates of his most celebrated pictures, are scattered over Italy ; the productions of his scholars Tanteri, Bruno, Certosini, Cerrini, and others. He died in 1621 at Florence. Allori made several copies, with slight alterations in the background, of Correggio's ' Reading Magdalene,' which were such good imi- tations that they have passed as replicas by Cor- reggio's own hand. In addition to the works

already noticed may be mentioned :

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