Excerpt from Dyce Collection: A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings, and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by the Reverend Alexander Dyce

The School of Bologna commences with a fair drawing by Tibaldi, in black chalk, washed with Indian ink, representing the Birth of the Virgin, followed by another in pen and sepia, washed, of St. Anthony of Padua, by Federigo Barocci. We have after this, three creditable performances by Guercino the first, in red chalk, a saint about to be decapitated; the next, an allegorical drawing of a young female seated in a car, in pen and bistre; the third, a study of a youth wearing a fur cap. It would be strange, indeed, to find a collection of drawings without a few by Guercino, for the examples are innumerable, and very few of them studies for pictures: most of them have evidently been executed in a rapid manner to multiply the number for sale, for there must have been a large market for them during the painter's life. We have next a very fine landscape, in pen and sepia, by G. F. Bolognese, and another, a View of the Church of St. Lorenzo at Rome, signed by the artist. By Simon da Pesaro, we have a beautiful study of Cupids seated on clouds, in red chalk. This brings the School of Bologna to a close.

The remarks made above on Guercino apply equally to Luca Cambiaso, of the school of Genoa, of whose meretricious perfor manees with pen and bistre we have here 17 examples. The best is a slight sketch for Leda and the Swan, but two others are perhaps worthy of a passing remark, namely, Angels grouped in the clouds, bearing the implements of the Passion, and Venus dissuading Adonis from the Chase. The very slight execution of the Leda accounts for its attractiveness, for had it been more highly finished it would have lost its delicacy. To conclude this school we have here two bold studies in distemper colour, by Castiglione, the one representing A Nymph sur prised by Satyrs being the best of the two. The only draw ings of the Neapolitan School of any importance are a sheet of studies by Salvator Rosa in pen and sepia, and a clever design for a fountain in black chalk by Luca Giordano. Of the School of Fontainebleau, which is the last of the Italian, there is a study, in black chalk, of Two Men embracing, by F. Primaticcio.

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