A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
BLYTH, Robert, an English engraver, was born
in 1750. We have some spirited etchings by liim
from drawings by John Hamilton Mortimer, A.R.A.
He led a careless life, and committed suicide in
1784. The following are his best plates :
Three, of Studies ; iu the style' of Salvator Rosa and De Lniresse. Four of the same, with iuscriptious. Uust of an Oriental Chief. 1779 ; oval. ];ust of an old Man ; oval. IJanditti going on an expedition. 1780. Banditti returning from an expedition. 1780. The Captive. 1781. The life and death of a Soldier ; four plates. Fishermen. A Nymph, with a basket of flowers, sitting on the sea- shore, with a shepherd. Caius Blarius reflecting on the ruins of Carthage. Nebuchadnezzar recovering his reason ; companioti. Homer reciting his Ver.ses to the Grecians.
BOADEN, John, a portrait painter, exhibited Lis works for many years, between 1812 and 1838, at the Royal Academy and the Society of British Artists. He died in 1839. In the South Kensing- ton Museum is a portrait of the Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend by him.
BOATERI, Jacopo, a native of Bologna, and a pupil of Francia, flourished in the 15th century. He is known as the author of a ' Holy Family,' in the Pitti Palace, Florence. The dates of his birth and death are alike unrecorded.
BOBA, George, a painter and engraver of the 16th century, known by the name of MaItre Georges, was a native of Rheims, and is said by some to have been a disciple of Frans Floris, and by others of Titian. His name in full, or included in a monogram very small, is found on some etch- ings of landscapes with historical subjects, after Primaticcio ; Bartsch gives an account of six of them.
BOBADILLA, Geronimo de, a Spanish painter, was born at Antequera, a small town in the vicinity of Seville, in 1620. According to Palomino he was a scholar of Francisco Zurbaran, whose manner he followed. He excelled in painting historical subjects of a medium size and perspective views. He used a peculiar varnish on his pictures, which Murillo compared to crystal. He was a great collector of academic figures, drawings, models, and sketches of celebrated artists. He was one of the founders of the Academy at Seville ill 1660, and continued to support it until his death, which took place in that citj- in 1680.
BOBBIN, Tim, a name assumed by John Collier, the caricaturist. See Collier.
BOCANEGRA, Pedro Atanasio, a Spanish painter, was born at Granada in 1638. He was a scholar of Alonso Cano, but, according to Palomino, improved himself in colouring by studying the works of Pedro de Moya and Van Dyck. In the cloister of Nuestra Seilora de Gracia, at Granada, is a picture by him of the ' Conception,' and at the College of the Jesuits is one of his most esteemed works, representing the ' Conversion of St. Paul.' He died at Granada in 1688. He was vain and arrogant, and boasted his superiority to all the artists of his time ; but on being challenged to a contest of ability by Mathias de Torres, he slunk from the trial, and left Madrid. His works were, however, much coveted, and no collection was considered complete without a specimen. The ' Death of St. Clara ' by him is in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
BOCCACCINO, Boccaccio, was bom at Cremona, it is believed, in 1460, and was either a pupil or co-disciple of Domenico Panetti. Influenced by Mantegna, he became a celebrated painter, and executed in Sant' Agostino, at Cremona, several frescoes, in 1497. He visited Rome, but not being successful with his ' Coronation of the Virgin,' in Santa Maria Transpontina, lie returned to Cremona. Some of his works bear a strong resemblance to those of Perugino, particularly his ' Marriage of the Virgin,' and 'The Madonna, with St. Vincent and St. Antliony,' in the cliurch of San Vincenzio at Cremona, which have been frequently regarded as the productions of Vannucci. One of his most admired performances is a frieze in the cathedral at Cremona, where he has represented the ' Birth of the Virgin,' and some subjects from her life, painted in 1506 — 1518. In these Lanzi considers him inferior to Perugino in composition, less beautiful in the airs of his heads, and less vigor- ous in light and shadow, but richer in his drapery, more varied in colour, more spirited in his attitudes, and perhaps not less harmonious and pleasing in his architecture and landscape. Lanzi observes of this painter, that he was the best modern among the ancients, and the best ancient among the moderns. He was one of the instructors of Benvenuto Garofalo. His works extend from 1496 to 1518, and this last date is usually given as the year of liis death ; but liis will was made in January, 1525 (new style), and an inventory of the property divided among his heirs, December 26th, 1525. The following are some of his best works : Cremona. Cathedral, Appearance of the Angel to Joachim. 1515.
„ „ Meeting of Joachim and Anna ,. „ Birth of the Virgin. 1515. „ „ Marriage of the Virgin. „ ,, The Annunciation. 1508. ,. ,, The Visitation. ,, „ Adoration of the Shepherds. ,, ,, The Circumcision. ,. „ Christ reasoning with the Doc- tors. 1518. „ „ Christ between the four Patron Saints of Cremona. 1506. (All the ahove are frescoes „ S. Quirico. Virgin and two Saints. 1518. Ferrara. Fhiacoteca.Tleath of the Virgin. London. 2^'at. Gal, Procession to Calvary. Paris. Louvre, Holy Family. Venice. Acad, Marriage of St. Catharine. „ i'. Gi«?iano.Virgin and Child with four Saints.
BOCCACCINO, Camillo, the son of Boccaccio Boccaccino, was born at Cremona in 1511, and was brought up imder his father. Educated in the Gothic maxims of Boccaccio, and only permitted the career of a very short life, he, however, f onned to himself a style which was both pleasing and grand ; and he was considered as the greatest genius of the Cremonese school. In 1637 he painted in the niches of the cupola of San Sigismondo the ' Four Evangelists,' so much in the style of Correggio, that it appears almost incredible that a young man of twenty-six years of age, who liad never frequented the school of that painter, could approach so near to the greatness of Correggio, both in the intelligence of perspective and in foreshortening. Two other works of this painter, at Cremona, are justly admired — the 'Raising of Lazarus' and the 'Adulteress before Christ,' surrounded by friezes of a numerous group
of Angels, finely composed, ar.d designed in the
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