Zitierlink:
https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/vasari1851bd4/0512
504
LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.
been able to procure the portrait of Garofalo,* I have placed
at the commencement of this series of Lombard painters that
of Girolamo Carpi, whose Life I am now about to write.
Girolamo, then, who was called Da Carpi,f and who was
a Ferrarese, and disciple of Benvenuto Garofalo, passed his
earlier years in the work-shops of his father Tommaso, who
was a painter of shields, and who employed him to decorate
coffers, seats, frames, and other matters of similar character.
Girolamo, having subsequently made some progress under
the discipline of Benvenuto, expected that his father would
set him free from the necessity of executing those mechani-
cal works, but as Tommaso, desirous of gain, would do
nothing of the kind, his son resolved to leave him, come
what might thereof.
He thereupon departed from Ferrara and repaired to Bo-
logna, where he found much favour with the gentlemen of
that city : wherefore having taken certain portraits, which
were found to be very fair likenesses, he acquired so good a
reputation that he made large gains, and was able to gain
more for his father by his abode in Bologna than he had
done while in Ferrara.
Now at that time there had been a work by the hand of
Antonio Correggio transported to Bologna and deposited in
the house of the Counts Ercolani. The subject of the
Vatican. Lanzi speaks of one in the Chigi Palace, and Bottari mentions
another as in the Corsini, but the present writer cannot remember to have
seen either of these examples. The two in our own National Gallery, the
Vision of St. Augustine and a Holy Family namely, need no mention here.
* There are two portraits in the Louvre which are believed to be of this
artist, but principally because they hold a clove pink or gilliflower in the
hand : that which Manolessi believed himself to have discovered, is con-
sidered by Lanzi to be the portrait of Giovan Battista Benvenuti, called
L’Ortolano.
■f Superbi, Apparato degli uomini illustri di Ferrara, calls him de’
Carpi, but the dispute on what Lanzi has well called the frivolous question
thus arising, has been set at rest by Baruffaldi, Vite de’ Pittori Ferraresi,
who cites authentic documents to show that his name was Girolamo Bianchi,
and that he was as Vasari—who having been his friend, was a highly com-
petent authority—has said, “ called Da Carpi.” In some of the later
editions of our author his life is separated from that of Benvenuto, &c.,
but we adhere to the text as arranged by Vasari himself in the edition
of 1560.
LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.
been able to procure the portrait of Garofalo,* I have placed
at the commencement of this series of Lombard painters that
of Girolamo Carpi, whose Life I am now about to write.
Girolamo, then, who was called Da Carpi,f and who was
a Ferrarese, and disciple of Benvenuto Garofalo, passed his
earlier years in the work-shops of his father Tommaso, who
was a painter of shields, and who employed him to decorate
coffers, seats, frames, and other matters of similar character.
Girolamo, having subsequently made some progress under
the discipline of Benvenuto, expected that his father would
set him free from the necessity of executing those mechani-
cal works, but as Tommaso, desirous of gain, would do
nothing of the kind, his son resolved to leave him, come
what might thereof.
He thereupon departed from Ferrara and repaired to Bo-
logna, where he found much favour with the gentlemen of
that city : wherefore having taken certain portraits, which
were found to be very fair likenesses, he acquired so good a
reputation that he made large gains, and was able to gain
more for his father by his abode in Bologna than he had
done while in Ferrara.
Now at that time there had been a work by the hand of
Antonio Correggio transported to Bologna and deposited in
the house of the Counts Ercolani. The subject of the
Vatican. Lanzi speaks of one in the Chigi Palace, and Bottari mentions
another as in the Corsini, but the present writer cannot remember to have
seen either of these examples. The two in our own National Gallery, the
Vision of St. Augustine and a Holy Family namely, need no mention here.
* There are two portraits in the Louvre which are believed to be of this
artist, but principally because they hold a clove pink or gilliflower in the
hand : that which Manolessi believed himself to have discovered, is con-
sidered by Lanzi to be the portrait of Giovan Battista Benvenuti, called
L’Ortolano.
■f Superbi, Apparato degli uomini illustri di Ferrara, calls him de’
Carpi, but the dispute on what Lanzi has well called the frivolous question
thus arising, has been set at rest by Baruffaldi, Vite de’ Pittori Ferraresi,
who cites authentic documents to show that his name was Girolamo Bianchi,
and that he was as Vasari—who having been his friend, was a highly com-
petent authority—has said, “ called Da Carpi.” In some of the later
editions of our author his life is separated from that of Benvenuto, &c.,
but we adhere to the text as arranged by Vasari himself in the edition
of 1560.