Chi farsi un buon pittor brama e desia Il disegno di Roma abbia alla mano, La mossa coll'ombrar Veneziano, E il degno colorir di Lombardia; Di Michelangiol la terribil via, Il vero natural di Tiziano, Di Coreggio lo stil puro e sovrano, Di un Raffael la vera simmetria; Del Tibaldi il decoro e il fondamento, Del dotto Primaticcio l'inventare, E un po' di grazia del Parmigianino: Ma senza tanti studii e tanto stento Si ponga solo l'opre ad imitare Che qui lasciocci il nostro Niccolino.
To paint for fame, who nurtures high desire, Will Rome's design keep ever in his view; To the Venetian shade and action true, Of Lombardy's whole colouring never tire; Kindle at Michael's terrors, and his fire, Seize Titian's living truth, who nature drew; Allegri's pure and sovereign graces too; To heavenly Raphael's symmetry aspire: Tibaldi's solid sense, appropriate air, And Primaticcio's learn'd inventive thought, With Parmigiano's graceful sweetness fraught. And should all these ask too much studious care, Turn to our Niccolino's bright display Of wondrous works, the envy of his day.
It is not easy to ascertain how far the Caracci may have carried this project, though it must always reflect the highest degree of credit upon them to have executed it in a superior manner to all other artists. In the outset they most felt their deficiency in their imitation of the antique, called by Agostino the design of Rome. He and Annibal, however, while residing there as strangers, in some measure reproduced and restored it to Roman artists themselves; and Lodovico, though remaining at Bologna, shewed that he was by no means unacquainted with it. At first, observes Mengs, they devoted much study to Coreggio, both in their ample outline and in their general design, although they did not observe the same exact equilibrium in their concave and convex lines, but rather affected the latter. There were other points which they did not attempt to include in such imitation, as in the shortening of the heads, and exhibiting them so very frequently with that smile so much repeated by the Parmigiani, by Barocci, and Vanni. They took their heads from life, and improved upon them by general ideas of the beautiful. Hence Annibal's Madonnas, many of them of a small size on copper, exhibit a peculiar and original beauty derived from his studies; and the same may be said of Lodovico, who, in his softer heads, often gives the portrait of a lady named Giacomazzi, celebrated for her beauty at that time. The Caracci were extremely well-grounded in a knowledge of anatomy, and of the naked figure; and it would be manifest injustice not to give them credit for due estimation of Michelangiolo, whom they also imitated. One of them indeed is known to have said, with some acrimony towards the rival school, that Bonarruoti ought to have covered his bones with a little flesh, in the manner of their own Tibaldi. It is true they availed themselves less of the naked form in composition than the Florentines, though more largely than the other schools. In their costume, they were not so anxious to observe the exactness and richness of Paul Veronese, as the grandeur of his folds and form; nor did any other school give more ample flow of drapery, or arrange it with dignity more suitable to the figures.