Romamk—Giulio Pippi, surnamed Romano (149S-1546), was Raphael's best pupil, and closely imitated that master's touch; but the independent dinclopinent of his talent after he had settled at Mantua and turned from religious to mythological and secular subjects gives him a place in art midway between Raphael and Rubens. His picture of Diana (pl. 33, 5) as goddess of the moon and eve, riding through the sky attended by the nymphs of the clouds and the dew, is full of life and of impetuous vet graceful movement.
Dceav Ilzinling in the meteoric light shed by the great trio, Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo, had faded on the horizon and those \ vho had caught their inspiration from these great masters had died, it seemed as if Italian art had performed its mission and reached the end of its development. If we survey the field in the year 1576, the date of Titian's death, we look in vain for the various distinct schools which up to the sixteenth century had flourished in the different provinces of Italy; they had been destroyed by the renown of the great masters whose magnetic influence had substituted personal for provincial schools. And, now that the masters to whom all looked for guidance had departed, there were no longer any artistic foci. Tuscany, so fertile in artists, was repre sented by the despicable Bronzino, Rome by the extravagant Tibaldi; Venice alone still had a Tintoretto and a Paul Veronese.
Bolofrhesc School: this time of artistic anxinia an effort was made at Bologna to create a centre of artistic influence, an organization which should renew the life of painting. This attempt was made by three men of the Caracci family, Lodovico, Agostino, and Annibale. The institution which they founded at the close of the sixteenth century was called the "Academy." Agostino Caracci taught anatomy, perspective, and mythology; Annibale was the instructor in drawing and painting. The Caracci did not attempt to follow the traditions of any one school or master, but tried to select and combine what they thought was best in ancient art, in nature, and in the older masters; hence they and their adherents were known as the Eclectic School. The result was wholly artificial, and no academic training, however thorough, could supply the lack of artistic talent which was beginning to be so apparent throughout Italy.
Dez.elopmen/ qf the ifradera lacking in originality, the artists produced by the Academy were often far above mediocrity, and several ranked higher than the founders of the school. It will be
sufficient to mention among the followers of this school Domeuiehino 05Sr-1640, Guido Rein (1575-1642), Francesco Albani (1578-1660), and Guereino 059:-1666). The spread of its influence was rapid. Rome was almost the first to welcome the new movement, and soon became the second centre of the school. The artists of the Academy were pro lific—even more so than the great seicenlisli—and, though Bologna itself contained thousands of their works, all the galleries in Italy and the rest of Europe possess a certain number. In accord with the spirit of the age, they loved striking effects and violent contrasts, and covered immense canvases with a multitude of figures in which we generally seek in vain .or beauty and harmony of color or excellence of composition. It is but justice to confess that in some cases, as in Domenichino's great picture of the Communion of Si. Jerome and in Guido Reni's Aurora, a tran scendent merit is shown. Unfortunately, these are exceptional cases.
Annibale Caracci (r56o-1609).—The mythological frescos in the Palazzo Farnese at Rome are Annibale Caracci's best work. It is evident that in the drawing he seeks to imitate Raphael, in the coloring the Venetian school, and in the play of light and shade the style of Correggio. Figure 6 (pl. 33) shows us Galatea as she is carried through the sea by a triton.
Guido Reni (1575-1642) was undoubtedly the most pleasing disciple of the Bolognese Academy. Compared with his masters and contempo raries, his coloring is softer and more harmonious, his figures are more graceful and Raphaelesque. The best known of all his works is the fresco of the Aurora (fig. 7), painted on a ceiling of the casino of the Rospigliosi Palace in Rome. It is also a good example of his happiest manner. The Dawn sweeps along in graceful, easy flight, scattering flowers with her rosy-tipped fingers; before her the clouds of Night disperse, and we catch a glimpse below of a charming landscape with sea and distant mountains. Aurora turns back her head toward the chariot of the Sun-god, drawn by four fiery steeds, in which sits the youthful Apollo; above hovers a torch-bearing cupid, while around the chariot the seven Hours weave a rhythmic dance.