Albani, FRANCESCO,

Albani, FRANCESCO, a painter of the Bolognese school, of the time of the Caracci, was born at Bologna in 1578, and died there in 1660. He studied, along with Guido Reni, first under Calvaert, and afterwards under Ludovico Caracci. He painted about forty-five altar-pieces; but his bent inclined him more to the representation of idyllic scenes from ancient mythology or from contemporary pastoral poetry. He had by his second wife a family of twelve children of extraordinary beauty, in whom he found exquisite models for his Venuses, Galateas, and angels' heads. His representation of the Four Seasons was often imitated.