Note 108 — BOOK IV.

The style of Raffaello found imitators also in Sicily, and the first to practise it was Salvo di Antonio, the nephew of Antonello, by whom there is, we are told, in the sacristy of the cathedral, the death of the Virgin, "in the pure Raffaellesque style," although Salvo is not the painter who has been called the Raffaello of Messina: this was Girolamo Alibrandi. A distinguished celebrity has of late been attached to this artist, whose name was before comparatively unknown. Respectably born, and liberally educated, instead of pursuing the study of the law, for which he was intended, he applied himself to painting, and having acquired the principles of the art in the school of the Antonj of Messina, he went to perfect himself in Venice. The scholar of Antonello, and the friend of Giorgione, he improved himself by the study of the works of the best masters. After many years residence in Venice he passed to Milan, to the school of Vinci, where he corrected some dryness of style which he had brought thither with him. Thus far there is no doubt about his history; but we are further told, that being recalled to his native country, he wished first to see Coreggio and Raffaello, and that he repaired to Messina about the year 1514; a statement which is on the face of it incorrect, since Lionardo left Milan in 1499, when Raffaello was only a youth, and Coreggio in his infancy. But I have before observed, that the history of art is full of these contradictions; a painter resembling another, he was therefore supposed his scholar, or at all events acquainted with him. On this subject I may refer to the Milanese School in regard to Luini, (Epoch II.) and observe that a follower of the style of Lionardo almost necessarily runs into the manner of Raffaello. Thus it happened to Alibrandi, whose style however bore a resemblance to others besides, so that his pictures pass under various names. There remains in his native place, in the church of Candelora, a Purification of the Virgin, in a picture of twenty-four Sicilian palms, which is the chef d'œuvre of the pictures of Messina, from the grace, colouring, perspective, and every other quality that can enchant the eye. Polidoro was so much captivated with this work, that he painted in distemper a picture of the Deposition from the Cross, as a precious covering to this picture, in order that it might be transmitted uninjured to posterity. Girolamo died in the plague of 1524, and at the same time other eminent artists of this school; a school which was for some time neglected, but which has, through the labours of Polidoro, risen to fresh celebrity.