DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0382
chap, v.] BARTSCH'S ARGUMENT EXAMINED.
345
proofs of the early Italian goldsmiths exist, excepting those in the
Durazzo Cabinet, Bartsch next proceeds, with great ingenuity,
to shew that the idea of their having ever been general throughout
Italy, has little or no foundation, and that, after all, the whole of
those existing may be the work of one artist.
" With regard to the authors of these prints," (says he) " it is
** very difficult to determine their number, or to prove that they
" resided in different cities of Italy. The inequality of execution
" observed in them, is, perhaps, only a deceitful variety; and
" it is very possible that the pieces attributed to ten* different
" masters are the work of but two, nay, perhaps, even of but one
" artist."
" The inscriptions upon a few of them, indicating, in one instance,
" the city of Bologna, in two others, the dialect of Lombardy, are
* not such certain attestations of their origin, as Lanzi seems to sup-
" pose; since the former, inscribed with the name of a family, and
" the two latter, containing devices, may have been, in fact, executed
" by one and the same goldsmith, resident at Florence, in exact
" and literal conformity to the desire of three amateurs; one of
" whom lived at Bologna, the others, in some town of Lombardy."
Would it be believed that Bartsch, whilst he thus wrote, knew
that one of the proofs of which he speaks, was taken from an un-
doubted work of Francesco Francia of Bologna ?-f-
It is hardly necessary to urge the want of candour, evinced in
this argument, and the monstrous improbability of its writer's hy-
pothesis. He is obliged to abandon it, and proceeds :
" But even allowing that there may have been several gold-
" smiths, who left impressions of their works of niello, and who
" resided, either in the same city, or in various cities of Italy, it is
" most certain, that in their exercise of the newly discovered art,
* In the absence of the Abate Boni's Cabinet, were the work of ten different
work, I am led to conjecture, from the above goldsmiths.
passage, that that writer was of opinion, that f Viz. the niello of the Crucifixion, de-
the proofs of works of niello, in the Durazzo scribed No. 4, p. 324, of this chapter.
2 Y
345
proofs of the early Italian goldsmiths exist, excepting those in the
Durazzo Cabinet, Bartsch next proceeds, with great ingenuity,
to shew that the idea of their having ever been general throughout
Italy, has little or no foundation, and that, after all, the whole of
those existing may be the work of one artist.
" With regard to the authors of these prints," (says he) " it is
** very difficult to determine their number, or to prove that they
" resided in different cities of Italy. The inequality of execution
" observed in them, is, perhaps, only a deceitful variety; and
" it is very possible that the pieces attributed to ten* different
" masters are the work of but two, nay, perhaps, even of but one
" artist."
" The inscriptions upon a few of them, indicating, in one instance,
" the city of Bologna, in two others, the dialect of Lombardy, are
* not such certain attestations of their origin, as Lanzi seems to sup-
" pose; since the former, inscribed with the name of a family, and
" the two latter, containing devices, may have been, in fact, executed
" by one and the same goldsmith, resident at Florence, in exact
" and literal conformity to the desire of three amateurs; one of
" whom lived at Bologna, the others, in some town of Lombardy."
Would it be believed that Bartsch, whilst he thus wrote, knew
that one of the proofs of which he speaks, was taken from an un-
doubted work of Francesco Francia of Bologna ?-f-
It is hardly necessary to urge the want of candour, evinced in
this argument, and the monstrous improbability of its writer's hy-
pothesis. He is obliged to abandon it, and proceeds :
" But even allowing that there may have been several gold-
" smiths, who left impressions of their works of niello, and who
" resided, either in the same city, or in various cities of Italy, it is
" most certain, that in their exercise of the newly discovered art,
* In the absence of the Abate Boni's Cabinet, were the work of ten different
work, I am led to conjecture, from the above goldsmiths.
passage, that that writer was of opinion, that f Viz. the niello of the Crucifixion, de-
the proofs of works of niello, in the Durazzo scribed No. 4, p. 324, of this chapter.
2 Y