DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0130
86
THE BRIDGEWATER GALLERY.
Of the drawings by Giulio Romano, seventy-two are
mounted for the portfolio ; the rest are in frames. The
only picture by G. Romano in this gallery is a very in-
ferior specimen of his powers ; whereas the drawings teem
with all that exuberance of imagination and energy of
pencil for which he is celebrated. Some of his sketches
really look as though they had come from the hand of one
of those heaven-assailing, huge-fisted Titans, pictured in
his own frescoes at Mantua. There is a study here of a
giant about to be crushed by a rock, and other designs
for the Palazzo del Te : first thoughts, full of fire and
grandeur. Others have a tenderness and elegance not
unworthy of his master, Raphael—for instance, the “Psyche
receiving the Vase from Proserpine.”
But the Carracci drawings, from their number, variety,
and beauty, are of paramount importance. Not more than
sixty-two have been mounted on sheets for the portfolio;
the remainder are framed and distributed for the present
through various corridors of his lordship’s residence. These,
with the numerous pictures of their school contained in
this collection, afford an excellent opportunity of appre-
ciating what they have, and what they have not, done for
art. Their drawings, moreover, have an individuality
and interest which do not belong to their pictures. The
sentiment of Ludovico, and the serious devotional turn of
his mind, are displayed in his designs, which are almost all
sacred subjects, generally studies for the Virgin and Child.
His two cousins, Agostino and Annibal, adopted his
principles and his style, but modified by the personal cha-
racter of each. Agostino’s designs breathe the classical
acquirements, and poetical and somewhat capricious tem-
perament of the man. He has left few pictures, and is
most celebrated as an engraver. Yet who, in these noble
drawings—in the gigantic hand, sketched with a pen, in
emulation of Michael Angelo—in the colossal breadth and
vigour of treatment of the grand cartoon for the “Galatea”
THE BRIDGEWATER GALLERY.
Of the drawings by Giulio Romano, seventy-two are
mounted for the portfolio ; the rest are in frames. The
only picture by G. Romano in this gallery is a very in-
ferior specimen of his powers ; whereas the drawings teem
with all that exuberance of imagination and energy of
pencil for which he is celebrated. Some of his sketches
really look as though they had come from the hand of one
of those heaven-assailing, huge-fisted Titans, pictured in
his own frescoes at Mantua. There is a study here of a
giant about to be crushed by a rock, and other designs
for the Palazzo del Te : first thoughts, full of fire and
grandeur. Others have a tenderness and elegance not
unworthy of his master, Raphael—for instance, the “Psyche
receiving the Vase from Proserpine.”
But the Carracci drawings, from their number, variety,
and beauty, are of paramount importance. Not more than
sixty-two have been mounted on sheets for the portfolio;
the remainder are framed and distributed for the present
through various corridors of his lordship’s residence. These,
with the numerous pictures of their school contained in
this collection, afford an excellent opportunity of appre-
ciating what they have, and what they have not, done for
art. Their drawings, moreover, have an individuality
and interest which do not belong to their pictures. The
sentiment of Ludovico, and the serious devotional turn of
his mind, are displayed in his designs, which are almost all
sacred subjects, generally studies for the Virgin and Child.
His two cousins, Agostino and Annibal, adopted his
principles and his style, but modified by the personal cha-
racter of each. Agostino’s designs breathe the classical
acquirements, and poetical and somewhat capricious tem-
perament of the man. He has left few pictures, and is
most celebrated as an engraver. Yet who, in these noble
drawings—in the gigantic hand, sketched with a pen, in
emulation of Michael Angelo—in the colossal breadth and
vigour of treatment of the grand cartoon for the “Galatea”