Pietro Berrettini, a native of Cortona, the scholar of Comodi in Tuscany, and of Ciarpi at Rome, is mentioned also among the writers on the art.[230] He acquired his knowledge of design by copying antique basso-relievos, and the chiaroscuros of Polidoro, a man who appears inspired by the soul of an ancient. Pietro chose Trajan's column as his favourite study; and from it he may have drawn his heavy proportions, and the appearance of strength and robustness, that characterize even his female forms and his children: in their eyes, noses, and lips, he surpasses the medium standard; and their hands and feet are certainly not remarkable for their light elegance. But in contrast, or the art of opposing group to group, figure to figure, and part to part, in which he was distinguished, he appears to have followed Lanfranco, and partly to have formed it from the Bacchanalian vases, which are particularly mentioned in his life by Passeri. His taste may probably have been drawn, in some measure, from the Venetian school; since having gone to study there, and then returned to Rome, he destroyed what he had previously done, and executed his works anew in the Barberini palace, according to the account of Boschini, his great admirer. Generally speaking, he finishes nothing highly but what was intended to be most conspicuous; he avoids strong shadows, is fond of middle tints, prefers the less brilliant grounds, colours without affectation, and is reckoned the inventor and chief artist of a style, which, in the opinion of Mengs, combines facility with taste. He employed it in pictures of all sizes with applause; but in painting of furniture, and still more on ceilings, in cupolas, and recesses, he carried it to a pitch of beauty which will never fail to procure him panegyrists and imitators. The judicious division of his historical compositions, which derives aid from the architecture, that skilful gradation by which he represents the immensity of aerial space beyond the clouds, his knowledge in the art of foreshortening what is seen from below, that play of light seemingly celestial, that symmetrical disposition of his figures, are circumstances which enchant the eye and fascinate the soul.
It is true that this manner does not always satisfy the mind; for intent on gratifying the eye, it introduces useless figures, in order that the composition may not be deficient in the usual fulness; and for the sake of contrast, figures in the performance of the gentlest actions, are painted as if the artist was representing them in a tournament or a battle. Gifted by nature with facility of genius, and no less judgment, Berrettini either avoided this extravagance, as in his stupendous Conversion of S. Paul, or did not carry it to that absurdity, which in our times has marked his followers, from the usual tendency of all schools to overcharge the characteristic of their master. Hence the facility of this style has degenerated into negligence and its taste into affectation; until its chief adherents begin as at present to abandon it, and to adopt a superior manner.
But not to wander from the Florentine school, we must confess that this epoch has been the least productive of eminent painters. Pietro had some pupils at that place, who did him equal honour with the Romanelli and the Ferri at Rome. I shall first mention a foreigner, who having established himself at Florence, may be reckoned of that school. Livio Mehus, a native of Flanders, came into Tuscany from Milan, where he had received some instruction in the art from another Fleming, named Charles, was taken under the protection of Prince Matthias, and recommended to Berrettini, who gave him lessons for a little time both in Florence and at Rome. By copying the antique he became a good designer, and he studied colouring at Venice and in Lombardy. He retained little of the manner of Cortona besides the composition. He imitated the Venetians less in colouring, than in the light and firm touches of his pencil. His tints are modest, his attitudes lively, his shadows most beautiful, and his inventions ingenious. He painted few altar pieces, but many cabinet pictures, for he was pensioned by the prince, and employed by noble families, in whose houses his works are often to be met with. The historical picture of the Repose of Bacchus and Ariadne, which he painted for Marquis Gerini, in emulation of Ciro Ferri, is very highly praised. Ferri conceived some jealousy of him, when he painted the cupola of the Pace at Florence; where he appears to approach the Lombard school, and even to surpass Cortona.[231] He was imitated by a Lorenzo Rossi, previously a scholar of Pier Dandini, who, according to P. Orlandi, executed some elegant small pictures.
Vincenzio Dandini went from the school of his brother Cesare into that of Cortona, or rather into the Roman school, where he copied, as well as he could, with unwearied assiduity, the finest specimens in painting, sculpture, and architecture. On this foundation, aided by practice in anatomy, at the academy for the naked figure, which still flourished at Florence, he became superior to his brother in design and in softness of colouring: he also finished more highly than Cesare, was more studious in his drapery, and in the other branches of the art. In All Saints there is a Conception of the Virgin, and three other pictures by his hand. He was employed in the ducal villas: in that of Poggio Imperiale he painted a beautifully foreshortened figure of Aurora, attended by the Hours, in a recess he had erected; and at Petraia painted in oil the Sacrifice of Niobe. In him the pupil of Cortona is very manifest. A similar style, but degenerated both in execution and in manner, is discoverable in Pietro, his son and scholar. This artist was superior to all the other Dandini; and by more extensive travels he obtained a greater knowledge of foreign painters: it would have been well if he had not attempted to surpass them also in his emoluments. From avarice he undertook too many works, and contented himself with a certain mediocrity in study; for which he, in some measure compensated by a freedom of pencil that is always admirable. Where well paid, he demonstrated his abilities; as in the cupola of S. Mary Magdalen; in several frescos in the ducal palace at Florence, in the royal villas, and in the copious historical picture of the taking of Jerusalem, which he painted in the public palace at Pisa. He also painted some altar-pieces worthy of himself; as the S. Francis in S. Maria Maggiore or the Beato Piccolomini in the attitude of saying mass, in possession of the Servi; a beautiful picture, full of spirited attitudes. His son, Ottaviano, appears his follower in some semicircular pictures in the cloister of S. Spirito, in a piece representing various saints in the church of S. Lorenzo; and wherever he was employed. One of his grandest works may be seen in S. Mary Magdalen at Pescia, the ceiling of which he painted in fresco.
The Dandini family had many scholars, who, with their descendants, have kept alive the school of Cortona, even to our own days. This school was not eminent; it requires but little examination, or prolixity of description. It has produced some good artists; but few of them are above mediocrity; a fault less to be attributed to their genius, than the times. The more modern style was esteemed the best: the last master seemed to discover