The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 1 (of 6) From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century — A Closer Reading

The Translator's Frame and the Author's Preface

The opening pages establish a layered authority. Roscoe's advertisement (dated 1828) explains that he incorporated portions of a translation by Dr. Traill and received explanations of art terms from Ottley, a noted connoisseur. This collaborative genesis means the English text carries multiple interpretive filters. Lanzi's own preface, though not excerpted here, is praised as “copious,” implying it sets out the historiographic method—likely the division into schools (Florence, Siena, etc.) that structures the entire six-volume work. Readers should note that the translator's modesty about “doubtful terms of art” hints at occasional opacity, especially in technical passages.

Cataloguing Artists: Between Vasari and Oblivion

In the middle excerpt, Lanzi navigates between Giorgio Vasari's earlier, comprehensive history and his own selective focus. He explicitly avoids following Vasari “who, in several passages of his history, mentions artists now sunk into oblivion.” Instead, Lanzi closes his list with two “illustrious names”: Perino del Vaga and Toto del Nunziata. The latter, he notes, was “reckoned by the English the best of the Italian artists” who visited England, though “almost unknown among us.” This remark reveals Lanzi's awareness of national reception and his willingness to correct or supplement Vasari. The passage also groups artists by specialty—landscape, grotesque, perspective—showing how Lanzi categorizes by technique and influence rather than mere chronology.

Technical Niches: Grotesque, Perspective, and Decorative Arts

A later section dives into specialized genres. Lanzi traces the grotesque style to Morto da Feltro and Giovanni da Udine, noting its application on walls, furniture, banners, and festive decorations. He singles out Andrea di Cosimo (called Feltrini) as “the leader of a taste originating with him, and much imitated in Florence.” The description of his ornaments as “more copious and rich than those of the ancients” and “united in a different manner” suggests Lanzi values innovation within tradition. Similarly, perspective painting is treated as a distinct pursuit, with Bastiano di Sangallo (nicknamed Aristotile) cited as an early specialist. Lanzi notes that Sangallo “got the surname of Aristotile, from his disquisitions on anatomy, or on perspective,” linking technical skill to philosophical inquiry.

Reading Lanzi's Method: Inference and Evidence

Because only fragments of the full text are available, several aspects of Lanzi's method remain inferred. The excerpts show a consistent pattern: he names masters, identifies their pupils or rivals, and often adds a qualitative judgment (e.g., “no artist was more employed than he”). He also references Vasari frequently, either to correct or to condense. The translator's footnotes (like the one listing Ottley's works) indicate that the English edition supplements Lanzi with contemporary scholarship. Readers should expect a dense, reference-heavy narrative that assumes familiarity with Italian art history. Lanzi's tone is scholarly but not dry; he occasionally inserts evaluative phrases like “divinely, says Vasari,” preserving the earlier historian's voice while asserting his own editorial control.

Lanzi's history rewards readers who attend to his structuring principles: the school-by-school organization, the selective use of Vasari, and the attention to technical categories like grotesque and perspective. The translator's apparatus—acknowledgments, footnotes, and the preface—adds a layer of mediation that shapes how Lanzi's judgments reach an English audience. For a first reading, focus on how Lanzi balances praise with correction, and how he uses specific artists to illustrate broader trends in Italian painting from the revival to the eighteenth century.