Carlo Cesare Malvasia (18 December 16169 March 1693) was an Italian scholar and art historian from
Bologna
Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
, best known for his biographies of
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
artists titled ''Felsina pittrice'', published in 1678. Together with his contemporary
Giovanni Pietro Bellori
Giovanni Pietro Bellori (15 January 1613 – 19 February 1696), also known as Giovan Pietro Bellori or Gian Pietro Bellori, was an Italian art theorist, painter and antiquarian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Artists (Bellori), ...
, Malvasia is considered "among the best informed and most intelligent historians and critics of art who ever lived."
Life and career
Carlo Cesare Malvasia was born on 18 December 1616 to Anton-Galeazzo Malvasia, a member of the lesser nobility who held the title of
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
(which his son was to inherit), and a certain Caterina, described only as "a woman of low degree but his legitimate wife." The young man studied poetry under
Cesare Rinaldi, a renowned baroque poet, and he also studied music. He wrote poetry while still a boy and learned to play several musical instruments. He received cursory training in painting under
Giacinto Campana and
Giacomo Cavedone
Giacomo Cavedone (also called ''Giacomo Cavedoni''; 1577–1660) was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School.
Life
He belonged to the generation of Carracci-inspired or trained painters that included Giovanni Andrea Donducci (Mastel ...
. Later, under the guidance of a noted jurist,
Claudio Achillini
Claudio Achillini (; 18 September 1574 – 1 October 1640) was an Italian philosopher, theologian, mathematician, poet, and jurist. He is a major figure in the history of Italian Baroque poetry.
Biography
Born in Bologna, he was a grandson to ...
(1575–1640), he studied law and took his degree at the
University of Bologna
The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...
in December of 1638.
Shortly after graduating he moved to Rome where he remained active in both law and literature. He belonged to two literary societies, the
Accademia degli Umoristi
Accademia (Italian for "academy") often refers to:
* The Galleria dell'Accademia, an art museum in Florence
* The Gallerie dell'Accademia, an art museum in Venice
Accademia may also refer to:
Academies of art
* The Accademia Carrara di Bel ...
and the Accademia dei Fantastici. In this last he served as ''principe'' or president. He became friends with Cardinal
Bernardino Spada and the sculptor
Alessandro Algardi
Alessandro Algardi (July 31, 1598 – June 10, 1654) was an Italian high-Baroque sculptor active almost exclusively in Rome. In the latter decades of his life, he was, along with Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona, one of the major rivals ...
.
While he was still in Rome a
small-scale war broke out between the
Farnese, one of Italy's most powerful families, and the
Barberini
The House of Barberini is a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in the 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII. Their urban pal ...
, whose family was headed by
Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...
, the reigning pope. Both sides contested for
Castro, the largest dukedom inside the boundaries of the Papal States. Malvasia at once enlisted on the side of the pope. He fought with valor in a
brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...
commanded by his cousin, the Marchese
Cornelio Malvasia
Cornelio Malvasia, Marquis of Bismantova (11 April 160329 March 1664) was an Italian aristocrat, patron of astronomy and military leader.
Early life
Malvasia was born in 1603 to an aristocratic family of Bologna and was the cousin of Carlo Cesa ...
, leader of the Papal Army cavalry.
After the end of the War of Castro, Malvasia became gravely ill. Probably about this time, in the early 1640s, he returned to Bologna, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. On his recovery from his unnamed illness he studied for and entered the
priesthood. He obtained a theology degree in 1653, and in 1662 was appointed a canon of the
Cathedral of Bologna, a position of considerable prestige. He also continued his interest in literary matters and was an active member of the
Accademia dei Gelati, the most important Bolognese
literary society
A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of writing or a specific author. Modern literary societies typically promote research, publish newslet ...
. Nevertheless, his principal career was to be in the law. In 1647, when he was only thirty-one years old, he was made professor of law at the University of Bologna, a post he held for forty years. The many tracts he published on legal matters spread his fame and brought him offers to join the faculties of other universities, those of
Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
and
Pavia
Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086.
The city was a major polit ...
included, but he preferred not to leave his native city.
To the already considerable list of his skills should be added an ability to paint and draw. These arts he studied under Giacomo Cavedone (1577-1660), a pupil of
the Carracci, and while he practiced them for his diversion only, we know that he painted a number of
frescoes
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
, apparently landscape scenes and "perspectives," both in his own villa and in those of friends.
He knew many artists well.
Guido Reni
Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but al ...
, whom he admired enormously, was an especially close friend. For many younger artists he was a benefactor. At his own expense he set up an art academy to teach aspiring painters to draw from nude
[.] Luigi Crespi
Luigi Crespi (January 23, 1708 – July 2, 1779) was an Italian painter, and art merchant and historian. He was the son of the prominent Bolognese painter, Giuseppe Maria Crespi.
Biography
He trained with his father and completed a few altarpie ...
tells us of his help for struggling young artists, some of whom would otherwise have had to leave the profession.
[ It is also to Malvasia's great merit that he recognized the talent of ]Elisabetta Sirani
Elisabetta Sirani (8 January 1638 – 28 August 1665) was an Italian Baroque painter and printmaker who died in unexplained circumstances at the age of 27. She was one of the first women artists in early modern Bologna, who became a successful p ...
(1638–1665) and, overcoming the resistance of her father, saw to it that she received training as a painter. As a result, despite the fact that death ended her career when she was only twenty-seven years old, she enjoys a secure place in the history of Bolognese art.
Malvasia was also a collector and acted as an agent for Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
in acquisition of Bolognese artworks for the royal collections. He dedicated the ''Felsina pittrice'' to Louis XIV. Sun King did not fail to show his gratitude to Carlo Cesare by sending him the famous “Gioiello della Vita”, a small but very precious jewel. Malvasia died in Bologna on 9 March in 1693.
Works
The vast body of his writings includes many legal studies and much poetry. In his youth, Malvasia enjoyed considerable success as a Marinist
Marinism (Italian: ''marinismo'', or ''secentismo'', "17th century") is the name now given to an ornate, witty style of poetry and verse drama written in imitation of Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), following in particular ''La Lira'' and ''L'Ad ...
poet active both in Bologna and in Rome.[ One of the best examples of the poetry, ''Il fiore coronato'', published in 1647, is an ]ode
An ode (from ) is a type of lyric poetry, with its origins in Ancient Greece. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structu ...
in honour of Cardinal Marzio Ginetti
Marzio Ginetti (6 April 1585 – 1 March 1671) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal and Cardinal Vicar of Rome.
Early life
Ginetti was born in Velletri, the son of a labourer. He was sent to Rome at a very young age to be educated and tried to make ...
. Then there is the curious ''Aelia Laelia Crispis non nata resurgens'', which was published in Bologna in 1683. It deals with an enigmatic ancient Roman
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
inscription
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
that Malvasia studied and claimed to have deciphered, although his explanation, in the words of one writer, "was not among the most felicitous of the attempts" made by various scholars. The opposite can be said of ''Le pitture di Bologna'', an essential guide book
A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying det ...
to Bologna and its treasures, first published in 1686. Enthusiastically received, it was reprinted four times before 1704. A new edition revised and enlarged by Giampietro Zanotti appeared in 1706, and was reprinted in 1732, 1755 and 1766. The latest edition, edited by Carlo Bianconi, Marcello Oretti and Francesco Maria Longhi, was published in Bologna in 1776.
''Felsina pittrice, vite de’ pittori bolognesi''
Malvasia is the Bolognese equivalent of Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...
, and saw his native city surpassing Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
in the artistic supremacy of his time. ''Felsina pittrice, vite de’ pittori bolognesi'' is a primary source of information about the Bolognese school of painters of the 14th - 17th centuries, and for some of the artists included, the only source of information. The text is divided into four historical sections, with the first on the trecento painters, the second focusing on Francesco Francia, the third devoted to the Carracci, and the fourth (and most valued today) providing detailed, firsthand accounts of the lives and careers of the artists who rose to pre-eminence during the 17th century in the wake of the Carracci reform, including Guido Reni
Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but al ...
, Guercino
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as (il) Guercino (), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous n ...
, Domenichino
Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters.
Life
Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoe ...
, Lanfranco, Lavinia Fontana and Elisabetta Sirani
Elisabetta Sirani (8 January 1638 – 28 August 1665) was an Italian Baroque painter and printmaker who died in unexplained circumstances at the age of 27. She was one of the first women artists in early modern Bologna, who became a successful p ...
.
In the years since its first publication, the ''Felsina pittrice'' has been used continually and cited endlessly by writers interested in Bolognese art. The book was reissued in an abundantly annotated two-volume edition that was edited by Giampietro Zanotti and published in Bologna in 1841. Luigi Crespi
Luigi Crespi (January 23, 1708 – July 2, 1779) was an Italian painter, and art merchant and historian. He was the son of the prominent Bolognese painter, Giuseppe Maria Crespi.
Biography
He trained with his father and completed a few altarpie ...
, the son of the leading painter of the late Baroque in Bologna, Giuseppe Maria Crespi
Giuseppe Maria Crespi (March 14, 1665 – July 16, 1747), nicknamed Lo Spagnuolo ("The Spaniard"), was an Italian late Baroque painter of the Bolognese School. His eclectic output includes religious paintings and portraits, but he is now mos ...
, continued Malvasia's massive undertaking with the addition of a third volume, ''Vite de' pittori bolognesi non descritte nella Felsina pittrice'', which was printed in Rome in 1769. Malvasia's book enjoyed considerable success outside of Italy too. On 4 October 1710, the painter Charles de La Fosse
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning wa ...
began a public reading of his translation of Malvasia's ''Lives'' of the Carracci at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family or royalty
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, ...
of Paris.[G. Perini, 'Central issues and peripheral debates in seventeenth-century art literature: Carlo Cesare Malvasia's Felsina Pittrice'. In ''World art: themes of unity in diversity'', Irving Lavin (ed.), University Park, 1989, 139.] A small group of Malvasia's biographies that remained in manuscript after the ''Felsina pittrice'' was printed were published in 1961, with an important and substantial introduction by Adriana Arfelli dealing with Malvasia and his work. A new edition of the ''Felsina pittrice'', with an abridgement of the original text and an introduction by Marcella Brascaglia, was brought out in Bologna by Alfa in 1971. A part of the vast accumulation of working notes that Malvasia used for his ''Felsina pittrice'' still survives and can be found, bound in two large manuscript volumes, in the Archiginnasio Municipal Library.
''Felsina pittrice'' has been criticized for its inaccuracies and unfavorably compared to ''Le vite de' pittori, scultori et architetti moderni'' (1672) by Malvasia's contemporary, Giovanni Pietro Bellori
Giovanni Pietro Bellori (15 January 1613 – 19 February 1696), also known as Giovan Pietro Bellori or Gian Pietro Bellori, was an Italian art theorist, painter and antiquarian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Artists (Bellori), ...
, on the grounds of that Malvasia's text is a mere compilation of facts embellished with poetic language, lacking in critical assessments and governed by no theoretical framework other than a provincial attachment to his native city. Recent scholarship has taken Malvasia more seriously as an art historian and the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts is preparing the first scholarly, critical edition since 1841, accompanied by the first English translation, of the complete text of the ''Felsina pittrice'' (three of the planned sixteen volumes of which have been published by 2017).
Malvasia also published ''Le pitture di Bologna'' (1686), a companion gallery guide of works by the artists discussed in the ''Felsina pittrice'', and ''Marmora Felsinea'', an extended study of the ancient epigraphic material to be found in the environs of Bologna.
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
Vol. I
Vol. II
.
*
*
*
* Pace, Claire (1982). "Review: ''Carlo Cesare Malvasia: The Life of Guido Reni'' by Catherine Enggass, Robert Enggass", ''The Burlington Magazine
''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation s ...
'', vol. 124, no. 950 (May), pp. 306–308.
*
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External links
*
* ''Felsina pittrice'', 1678
catalog record
at HathiTrust
HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...
of digitized versions of copies at the Getty Research Institute
The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".
* Digitized edition of
Le pitture di Bologna
: che nella pretesa, e rimostrata sin'hora da altri maggiore antichita, & impareggiabile eccellenza nella pittura, con manifesta evidenza da fatto, rendono il passeggiere disingannato ed instrutto dell'Ascoso, accademico gelato''. Monti, Bologna 1706
at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malvasia, Count Carlo Cesare
1616 births
1693 deaths
Writers from Bologna
Painters from Bologna
Italian art historians
Italian biographers
Biographers of artists
17th-century biographers
University of Bologna alumni
17th-century Italian writers
17th-century Italian historians
Italian male non-fiction writers
17th-century Italian male writers
17th-century Italian painters
Academic staff of the University of Bologna
Italian antiquarians
Italian art collectors
Italian art critics
Italian Baroque people
People from the Papal States