Guido Reni
(b. 1575, Calvenzano, d. 1642, Bologna), was an Italian painter of
popular religious works and critically acclaimed mythological scenes.
He was born in Bologna and began to study painting at the age of nine;
he joined the Carracci Academy when he was 20. His studies were rounded
off by a trip to Rome in about 1600. From that moment on, antique and
recent Roman art became his ideals. He admired
Raphael
unconditionally. He did, however, come to terms with
Caravaggio's
naturalism in a group of youthful works such as
The Crucifixion of St Peter
in the Vatican Gallery (1604), where the use of chiaroscuro provided
enormous energy.
He alternated between
living in his native Bologna and visits to Rome. After
Annibale Carracci's
death (1609) he became the leader of the classical school of Emilian
painters. His adhesion to this school can be seen in the frescos he
painted in Rome in about 1610 in the Quirinal Palace, the Vatican, and
various churches (e.g. San Gregorio Magno al Cielo). They were inspired
by the return to classical taste and culminated in Aurora in Palazzo
Ludovisi which has almost mimetic qualities. The large altarpieces he
painted in Bologna —
The Massacre of the Innocents
and
Pietà dei Mendicanti
both in the Bologna Pinacoteca Nazionale — mark the triumph of
design, the ability to control and channel feelings, gestures, expressions,
drawing, and color into a single, eloquent, and faultless form. Guido Reni's
success was underlined by the important commissions he received. They
included the cycle of
The Labors of Hercules
(1617–21) that he painted for the Duke of Mantua and which are now
in the Louvre. He exalted the clarity of light, the perfection of the body,
and lively color. Toward the end of his life, Reni modified his style. His
paintings became so airy as to seem insubstantial and were almost completely
monochrome. He also used long, flowing brushstrokes and conveyed an atmosphere
laden with intense melancholy.
Guido Reni was a
quintessentially classical academic but he was also one of the most
elegant painters in the annals of art history. He was constantly
seeking an absolute, rarefied perfection which he measured against
classical Antiquity and Raphael. Because of this, over the years
the Bolognese painter has been in and out of fashion, depending on
the tastes of the times. The eighteenth century loved him, the
nineteenth century, persuaded by the violent criticism of John
Ruskin, hated him. But even his detractors cannot deny the
exceptional technical quality of his work nor the clarity of his
supremely assured and harmonious brushwork.
The image accompanying
this article is a Self-portrait painted by Reni, c. 1602/3 in Rome.