Note 67 — BOOK I. (continued 4)

It would be too difficult to attempt to enumerate the names of his foreign imitators, particularly the Flemish, who were much devoted to his style, some of whose copies I have seen in collections believed to be originals. But the handle of their pencil, the clearness of colouring, and sometimes, the diminution of the figures, not common to the Bassani, afford means to distinguish them; not however with such a degree of certainty, but that connoisseurs themselves are of different opinions. This occurred in my own time at Rome, respecting a fine picture of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, in the Rezzonico collection. One of the best imitators of that style was David Teniers, who, by his exquisite skill acquired the surname of Bassano. To him I am happy to add another foreigner, Pietro Orrente di Murcia, whom Spanish writers give as a pupil to Jacopo; and were there no other authority, we might upon that of Sig. Conca, receive him as his very exact imitator. In his two pictures referred to (vol. i. p. 266) he is pronounced superior to the Bassani, meaning, perhaps, superior to the sons of Jacopo; it would be too absurd a proposition to prefer him to the head of the school.