BOLOGNESE SCHOOL. Despite a culture dating from the Etruscan period, and an interest which led Martial to refer to the dtY in the 1st century a.c. as °CuIta Bononia,D we do not find a school of artists at Bologna until late in the Renaissance, and then — as the great eclectics — they are the least significant of the major groups of Italian painters. Before the middle of the 15th cen tury, such men as Nicola Pisano, Jacopo della Quercia and finally certain Ferrarese artists had been summoned to Bologna when work of importance was to be done. But the influence they had was not sufficient to bring about native production, or rather the Bolognese did not offer the material for the development of great artists. Even the workshops where marqueterie was produced and for which the city was famous were directed by foreigners. Jacopo Raiboldini, called 11 Francia (1450 '517), was the first real master of Bolognese painting, the first who extended the art of the city beyond its borders—instead of importing it from without. Francia had many pupils, among them Timoteo Viti, who became the teacher of Raphael. Another Bolognese name connected with that master is Marc-Antonio Raimondi, the engraver. A second Bolognese school was founded by Ludivico-Carracci (1557-1619), his cousin Agostino (1557-1602) and the latter's brother Annibale (1560-1609), the best of the family. This school was a
reaction against the Mannerists of the 16th century, which imitated, in a meaningless man ner, the form of Michelangelo and Raphael. The Eclectic school of Bologna was the mother of modern schools of design. Its program was to unite the best points of the principal schools of the Italian Renaissance: Michel angelo's form, Titian's color, Correggio's light and shade and Raphael's symmetry and grace. The result of such training was a certain technical skill, but a lack of originality. The school also placed weight upon the study of nature, especially from the nude, but not to the same extent as the Naturalists, by whom it was much influenced. From their school went forth Guido Reni, Domenichino and Guercino. Through them something of the great tradition of Italian painting was carried on when all else in the peninsula, save a few latter-day Venetians, had ceased to live. Color fades with these later men, however, form becomes academic and they mark the end of Italian art. The best modern treatise on the Bolognese schools is Malerschule von in Dohme, (Kunst and Kfinstler Italiens) (Vol. III, Leipzig 1879). Consult also Bolognini-Amorini, (Vite dci pittori ed artefici Bolognesi) (Bologna 1843).