Alessandro Ardente of Faenza, though some make him a Pisan, and others a Lucchese,[72] Giorgio Soleri of Alessandria, and Agosto Decio, a Milanese miniaturist before mentioned by me, painted the portrait of Charles Emanuel, duke of Savoy, for which all three are praised by Lomazzo in his treatise, at p. 435. The two first were also appointed painters to the court. They excelled in historical compositions as well as being celebrated portrait painters. By Alessandro we see in Turin at the Monte della Pietà the Fall of St. Paul, in a style that would lead us to believe he had studied in Rome. More of his works remain in Lucca; in one of which, a Baptism of Christ painted at S. Giovanni by this Ardente, the subject is treated in a highly original manner. (_Guida di Lucca_, p. 261.) In the neighbourhood also of that city are many of his works. The Sig. da Morrona also names him in the second volume of his _Pisa illustrata_, and informing us that he has not a sufficient account of him, concludes that he lived a long time out of Tuscany. I believe that he resided a considerable time in Piedmont, as I find some works by him out of Turin; as an Epiphany in Moncaliëri, inscribed with his name and the year 1592; and knowing further, that on his death, in 1595, a pension was assigned by the prince to his widow and sons; a proof in my mind that Ardente must have served the court many years.
Footnote 72: We ought to credit his own testimony. He painted three pictures at S. Paolino di Lucca, and in that of S. Antonio Abate he subscribes himself _Alexander Ardentius Faventinus_, 1565; so says Monsig. Mansi, Archbishop of Lucca, in his Diario. He however in other places in that little work, and Sig. Morrona in his _Pisa_, call him a Pisan, and others a Lucchese.
Of Soleri, the son-in-law of Bernardino Lanini, I have given some account in the Milanese School, (tom. iv. p. 278). He is also mentioned by Malvasia in tom. ii. p. 134, and compared with Passerotti, Arcimboldi, Gaetano, and with Del Monte of Crema, in portrait painting. His professional education however remains obscure, except as far as we are able to conjecture from his works. I have only been able to find two of his performances; and I am not aware that any other are known. The one is in Alessandria, and serves as an altar-piece to the domestic chapel of the Conventuals. It represents the Virgin and the Saints Augustin and Francis recommending to her protection the city of Alessandria, which is represented in the background. The landscape is in the style of Bril, as usual with our painters before the Caracci; the figures are painted with more labour than spirit; the colour is languid; and the whole presents the style of one desirous of imitating the best period of the Roman School, but who had not seen or studied it sufficiently. But there is a more authentic picture in the church of the Domenicans of Casale, with the inscription, _Opus Georgii Soleri Alex. 1573_. It represents S. Lorenzo kneeling at the feet of the Virgin, who has with her the holy infant; near the saint three angelic boys are playing with a huge gridiron, his customary symbol; and are straining to raise it from the ground. Here we most distinctly trace the follower of Raffaello, in the chasteness of design, the beauty and grace of the countenances, and the finished expression; if indeed the design of these angels is not taken from Coreggio. To render the picture more engaging, there is represented a landscape, with a window, whence there appears in the distance a beautiful country, with fine buildings; nor are there many pictures remaining in the city at this day to be compared with it. If it had possessed a more vigorous colouring, and a stronger chiaroscuro, there would be nothing more to wish for. When I consider the style, I know not to what school to assign it; for it is not that of Lanini, although his father-in-law; nor that of any Milanese, although he was in Milan. Perhaps, like others of his day, he formed himself on the engravings after Raffaello; or if he copied any other painter, it was Bernardino Campi, whom, if we except a certain timidity of touch, he resembles more than any other.