ENGLISH VERSION Bartolomeo Dal Pozzo. Le Vite de' pittori, de gli scultori et architetti veronesi

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro
CLICK HERE FOR ITALIAN VERSION

Bartolomeo Dal Pozzo
Le Vite de' pittori, de gli scultori et architetti veronesi [The Lives of the Veronese Painters, Sculptors and Architects]

Edited by Licisco Magagnato

Verona, Banca Mutua Popolare di Verona, 1967

Paolo Veronese, Martyrdom of Saint George, Church of San Giorgio in Braida, Verona

[1] A "private" publication printed in 1800 copies. The work is divided into two volumes. The first displays the facsimile reproduction of the Vite (Lives), published by Bartolomeo Dal Pozzo in Verona in 1718; the second presents a bio-bibliographical essay, the analytical raisoned index and a (large) choice of tables, all edited by Licisco Magagnato. As reported in the Catalogue-specimen of the Labor Editions, these two volumes were to appear in a series entitled Gli storici della letteratura artistica italiana (Historians of Italian art literature). We all know how things went at the end: the publishing company went bankrupt, and of the twenty-five titles included in the plan of the work, only five were published. However, in later years a part of the studies, which had been undertaken for inclusion in this series, found their place elsewhere and were eventually published. The case of the Lives by Dal Pozzo is, for us, the most mysterious one: the two volumes appeared in 1967, i.e. before the failure of Labor, but in a "private" edition issued by the Banca Mutua Popolare (Mutual Popular Bank) of Verona. However, in the colophon it is remembered, that "this edition ... has been edited by the Reprint and Documentation Department of Labor Ltd Milan", so that we can guess a possible explanation: evidently, Labor publishers was very tight indeed in terms of liquidity; 1967 was the year of the centenary of the Banca Mutua Popolare of Verona; the bank found it appropriate to celebrate the event and to sponsor the publication of the work, and made a financial proposal that was evidently accepted (but that did nothing to save the publishing house). It is, we repeat, a pure working hypothesis, which of course can be withdrawn at any time.

Liberale da Verona: a detail from an illuminated book
Souce: http://www.fondiantichi.unimo.it/fa/giustizia/siena_duomo.html

[2] The full title of the work is Le Vite de’ pittori, de gli scultori, et architetti veronesi. Raccolte da varj Autori stampati, e manuscritti, e da altre particolari memorie. Con la narrativa delle Pitture, e Sculture, che s’attrovano nelle Chiese, case, & altri luoghi publici, e privati di Verona, e suo Territorio (The Lives of painters, sculptors and architects of Verona. Collections of prints, manuscripts, and other special memories by various authors. With the narrative of Paintings and Sculptures, which are to be found in churches, houses, & other public and private places of Verona and its territory). Simplifying to the maximum, the structure of the work is divided into two parts: the first section is devoted to biographies of indigenous art creators (or anyway of artists who have been operating in Verona); the second part serves as a guide to the city through churches, public places, as well as private collections. In this edition, it appears as a final appendix to the Lives. The appendix was added by the author in a second edition, again in 1718 (on the reasons that led to including an addition, see Magagnato pp. IX-X). Technically, it is therefore not possible to define the present edition as a reprint of an editio princeps.

Giovanni Francesco Caroto, Portrait of a young boy with a Child's Drawing  (Verona, Castelvecchio Museum)

[3] The essay by Magagnato frames the work flawlessly, including it into the history of writing on art history in Verona. "These Lives are, as well known and obvious, a work of compilation. At a time when every city of Italy made ​​an inventory of its own heritage (places, names and objects), Dal Pozzo sews together what had been written on Verona by Giorgio Vasari and Carlo Ridolfi, together with what was known to him, especially on the seventeenth century, thanks to certain precious manuscripts that were in his hand, but nowadays are lost; he adds – with some help from [n.d.r. Pellegrino] Orlandi – what he knows "visually" on his contemporaries; and therefore, on the artists of the generations between Santo Primato and Antonio Balestra... he is the most extensive and valuable source" (p. ix). Mind you - Magagnato continues - Dal Pozzo is not a connoisseur, but simply a scholar, and – where he is not supported by historic sources – his attributions are uncertain and often wrong. This does not preclude that his own remains an intelligent compilation (or, rather, a recapitulation), so much so that this work (along with the Verona illustrata - Verona Illustrated – by [n.d.r Scipione] Maffei, which has however a completely different profile), represents a point of reference for all later scholars. The sources of Bartolomeo are well known and easily recognizable in the chronological order of the Lives: in the first part Vasari, in the second one Ridolfi, in the third one (for the middle decades of 1600) a manuscript in his possession, unfortunately now lost (along with his cards); finally – as to the fourth part – it is assumed that the author was able to make use of his personal knowledge (when he wrote the Lives Dal Pozzo was nearly eighty years old, and could then go back far enough over the years with his recollection of events). One can therefore say that the work provides a wealth of important information about the entire seventeenth century in Verona; to the contrary, the assessment of the originality of times already covered by Vasari and Ridolfi was far less flattering; actually - writes Magagnato - it is true that this part of the Lives is the least original, but it is also true that new original elements are scattered throughout the entire guide of the art works in town. In this sense, the reasoned index is particularly useful, as it allows assembling all information in a unique point.

Francesco Torbido, Portrait of a man

[4] Over history, criticism divided itself on the work. Julius von Schlosser defines Dal Pozzo as "an historian among the best ones of this kind" (Letteratura artistica - Art Literature, p. 532); particularly appreciated is the second part of the writing: "To the collection of the Lives ... of Commendator Knight Commander Dal Pozzo, published in 1718, is added a copious list of art treasures of Verona, very important for the description of the frescoes in private houses in such a colour-friendly town, and especially for an accurate summary of the specific collections" (p. 550). The citation by Cicognara in his Catalogo ragionato (Catalogue raisonné) is instead very hasty. Very ungenerous is Comolli on Dal Pozzo’s style, which "is not only poor, but petty... The gathered information is per se worthy, but it would deserve greater exactness, accuracy, and cleaning of impression. Despite these flaws, among the stories of the artists the one of Brother Del Pozzo is one of the most sought and the most hard to find" (Bibliografia storico-critica - Historical-critical bibliography, v. II, p. 285). And certainly not positive is what Luigi Grassi writes in the third volume of Teorici e storia della critica d’arte - Theorists and history of art criticism: Del Pozzo is charged with limited capacity of critical discernment, an overemphasis in wanting to single out the merits of the architects of Verona and finally "his intention to compare fifteen Veronese artists with as many teachers from other schools and regions, [note of the editor: proposal that] corresponds to the Balance des peintres - Balance of painters – by Roger de Piles"(p. 85). Sincerely, we are not convinced by the comparison between Dal Pozzo and the Balance by Roger de Piles (which preceded Dal Pozzo’s work by 10 years). Bartolomeo Dal Pozzo, neither more nor less than many others in the '600 and '700, is a scholar who, starting from the example of Vasari's Lives, offers a local (here even very local: only in the town of Verona, and not even across the Veneto region) interpretation of art making. In this context must be understood the impossible comparison (which is confined to a single page of the Preface) between fifteen artists from Verona and fifteen other distinguished Italian artists (not including either Raphael or Michelangelo). But we cannot stop here; it should not be forgotten that Dal Pozzo also provides a lot of information that otherwise we would not have today, and certainly he does not invent, as many others did in their (questionable) works.

Antonio Badile, Glory of Virgin and Child
with Saints Baptiste, Anthony the Abbot, Benedicte and Blaise (detail)

[5] Book purchased at an antiquarian bookshop in Verona in 2007. Original binding, very spoiled especially in the second volume; traces of moisture in some sheets.