Guido

Guido. Guido Reni, a celebrated painter of the school of Bologna, was born near that city, at Calvenzano, on 4th November 1575. He studied under Calvaert, and at the age of about twenty entered the school of the Caracci, of which he and Domenichino were the most famous pupils. He is also stated to have learned the processes of fresco from Ferrantini. His earliest works, of which the 'Coronation of the Virgin,' in the National Gallery, London, is an example, are marred by rather harsh and violent colouring; but coming under the influence of Caravaggio, he adopted many of the qualities of his art, and his following works are characterised by forcible if exaggerated chiaroscuro. About 1596 he settled in Rome, where he worked for some twenty years, adopting a graceful style, of which the famous 'Aurora and the Hours,' painted on the ceiling of the pavilion of the Rospigliosi Palace, is a typical example. This is usually regarded as the masterpiece of the artist, but some competent critics rank even higher the unfinished 'Nativity,' in the choir of San Martino at Naples. The portrait titled 'Beatrice Cenci' (q.v.) in the Barberini Palace, Rome, is ascribed to Guido on very doubtful authority. He now entered upon the third period of his art, when he painted thinly, with great ease of execution and a cold silvery delicacy of colouring; but gradually his productions lost the vigour of his earlier time, when he had been more directly inspired by nature instead of by the study of Raphael and of such examples of the antique as the Niobe group. The decline of his art is also attributable to his extravagant habits and his passion for gambling, which obliged him to paint under pressure for the dealers, and to produce much hasty and ill-considered work. On account of a quarrel with the Cardinal Spinola regarding an altarpiece commissioned for St Peter's he left Rome and settled at Bologna, where he died 18th August 1642. He was a most prolific painter, and his works are to be found in all the chief European galleries. At the beginning of the 19th century they were very highly esteemed, but now—in common with the works of other post-Raphaelite Italian masters—they are less highly valued than formerly. In addition to his paintings Guido produced some vigorous and freely-touched etchings, including a portrait of Paul V. and several religious subjects after his own paintings and those of the Caracci. He had many pupils both at Rome and Bologna. Of these the most celebrated was Simone Cantarini, known as Il Pesarese, who painted an excellent portrait of his master, now in the Bologna Gallery.