Note 124 — BOOK IV. (continued 2)

The Memorie de' Messinesi Pittori mentions a Gio. Porcello, who, after studying under Solimene, returned, it is said, to his native country, where he found the art at an extremely low ebb; and he attempted to revive it by opening an academy in his house, and diffusing the taste of his master, which he fully possessed. A still better style of painting was brought from Rome by Antonio and Paolo, two brothers, who, fresh from the school of Maratta, also opened an academy in Messina, which was greatly frequented. They worked in conjunction in many churches, and excelled in fresco, but in oil Antonio was much superior to his brother. There was also a third brother, Gaetano, who executed the ornamental parts. Their works on the walls and on canvass are to be seen in S. Caterina di Valverde, in S. Gregorio delle Monache, and elsewhere. There flourished at the same time with the Filocami, Litterio Paladino, and Placido Campolo, a scholar of Conca in Rome, where he derived more benefit from the antique marbles than from the instructions of his master. Both these artists executed works on a very large scale; and of the first they particularly commend the vault of the church of Monte Vergine, and, of the second, the vault of the gallery of the Senate. Both are esteemed for their correct design; but the taste of the second is more solid and more free from mannerism. The above named five artists all died in the fatal year of 1743. Luciano Foti survived them, an excellent copyist of every master, but particularly of Polidoro, whose style he adopted in his own composition. But his characteristic merit consisted in his penetration into the secrets of the art, which enabled him to detect every style, every peculiar varnish, and the various methods of colouring, so that he not only ascertained many doubtful masters, but restored pictures, damaged by time, in so happy a manner as to deceive the most experienced. A man of such talents outweighs a host of common artists.

To these we may add other artists of the island itself, born in different places. Marcantonio Bellavia, a Sicilian, who painted in Rome, at S. Andrea delle Fratte, is conjectured, though not ascertained, to be a scholar of Cortona. Calandrucci, of Palermo, is named among the scholars of Maratta. Gaetano Sottino painted the vault of the oratory at the Madonna di C. P., a respectable artist. Giovacchino Martorana, of Palermo, was a machinist, and in his native city they boast of the Chapel de' Crociferi, and at S. Rosalia, four large pictures from the life of S. Benedict. Olivio Sozzi, of Catania, painted much in Palermo; particularly at S. Giacomo, where all the altars have pictures by him, and the tribune three large subjects from the infancy of Christ. Another Sozzi, of the name of Francesco, I find praised for a picture of Five Saints, Bishops of Agrigentum, in the Duomo of that city. Of Onofrio Lipari, of Palermo, there are two pictures of the Martyrdom of S. Oliva in the Church de' Paolotti. Of Filippo Randazzo, there are to be seen in Palermo some vast works in fresco, as well as of Tommaso Sciacca, who was an assistant of Cavalucci in Rome, and who left some large compositions at the Duomo and at the Olivetani of Rovigo.