This section reflects on the historical influence on art, mentioning renowned artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Titian. There's an excerpt from a preface lauding the esteemed author Mr. de Querlon, highlighting the work's longstanding significance among art lovers. It also describes how Rubens, inspired by his teacher Otto Venius, incorporated poetic influences into his depictions, aligning them with ancient authors, particularly drawing from Virgil to create vivid battle and ceremonial scenes.
FROM THE BOOKSELLER.
To Leonardo da Vinci, Florentine: of the Martials, to Polidoro de Caravaggio: of the Mercurials, to Andrea Mantegna, Mantuan: of the Moonish, to Titian Vecellio, of Cadore: and lastly of the Jovials, to Gaudens Ferrare of Valdufic, Milanese. Ibid. chap. XXXI, page 88.
We cannot conclude this Notice better than by the following excerpt from the Preface placed at the head of the school of Urania, by Mr. de Querlon, a highly esteemed and well-known author through the excellent periodical works with which he has long enriched the republic of letters: this excerpt obviously proves that the work given to the Public today has been known and desired for a long time by amateurs and artists, as previously noted.
Rubens, so poetic a genius, and moreover, the student of Otto Venius, who had such taste for poetry, left a monument of the studies he had made based on the poets, in a collection where most of the actions of man are drawn, in accordance with the descriptions made by ancient authors. It contains a series of pieces mainly extracted from Virgil, which are as many pictures of battles, shipwrecks, games, and ceremonies: what he had gathered so much for his own use, as to compare with the paintings of Raphael and those of others.