pon the wall.

Contri was born at Ferrara about 1660, and died in 1732. Palmaroli, an
Italian painter of the present century, rendered his name famous, and
conferred a great benefit on art by his skill in transferring to canvass
some of the frescos and other works of the great masters. In 1811 he
transferred the famous fresco of the Descent from the Cross by Daniello
da Volterra (erroneously said, as related above, to have been the first
effort of the kind), which gained him immense reputation. He was
employed to restore a great number of works at Rome, and in other
places. He was invited to Germany, where, among other works, he
transferred the Madonna di San Sisto, by Raffaelle, from the original
panel, which was worm-eaten and decayed, and thus preserved one of the
most famous works of that prince of painters. At the present time, this
art is practised with success in various European cities, particularly
in London and Paris.

WORKS IN SCAGLIOLA.

Guido Fassi, called del Conte, a native of Carpi, born in 1584, was the
inventor of a valuable kind of work in imitation of marble, called by
the Italians _Scagliola_ or _Mischia_, which was subsequently carried to
great perfection, and is now largely employed in the imitation of works
in marble. The stone called _selenite_ forms the principal ingredient.
This is pulverized, mixed with colors and certain adhesive substances
which gradually become as hard as stone, capable of receiving a high
polish. Fassi made his first trials on cornices, and gave them the
appearance of fine marble, and there remain two altar-pieces by him in
the churches of Carpi. From him, the method rapidly spread over Italy,
and many artists engaged in this then new art. Annibale Griffoni, a
pupil of Fassi, applied the art to monuments. Giovanni Cavignani, also a
pupil of Fassi, far surpassed his master, and executed an altar of St.
Antonio, for the church of S. Niccolo, at Carpi, which is still pointed
out as something extraordinary. It consists of two columns of porphyry
adorned with a pallium, covered with lace, which last is an exact
imitation of the covering of an altar, while it is ornamented in the
margin with medals, bearing beautiful figures. In the Cathedral at
Carpi, is a monument by one Ferrari, which so perfectly imitates marble
that it cannot be distinguished from it, except by fracture. It has the
look and touch of marble. Lanzi, from whom these facts are obtained,
says that these ar