Guido Reni was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
of high-
BaroqueThe Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style.
Biography
Born in
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of
Denis CalvaertDenis Calvaert was a Flemish painter born at Antwerp, but lived most of his life in Italy, where he was known as Il Fiammingo . Calvaert was a profound student of architecture, anatomy, and history, exceedingly accurate in perspective and graceful in design...
. Soon after, he was joined in that studio by
AlbaniFrancesco Albani or Albano was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early years in Bologna:Born 1578 in Bologna, his father was a silk merchant who intended to instruct his son in the same trade; but by age twelve, Albani became an apprentice under the competent mannerist painter Denis Calvaert, where he...
and Domenichino. He may also have trained with a painter by the name of Ferrantini. When Reni was about twenty years old, the three Calvaert pupils migrated to the rising rival studio, named
Accademia degli IncamminatiThe Accademia degli Incamminati was one of the first art academies in Italy. It was originally created around 1580 in Bologna as the Accademia dei Desiderosi and was sometimes known as the Accademia dei Carracci after its founders the Carracci cousins , with Annibale heading the institution thanks...
(Academy of the "newly embarked", or progressives), led by Lodovico Carracci. They went on to form the nucleus of a prolific and successful school of Bolognese painters who followed Annibale Carracci to Rome. Like many other Bolognese painters, Reni's painting was thematic and eclectic in style.
Work in Rome
By late 1601, Reni and Albani had moved to Rome to work with the teams led by
Annibale CarracciAnnibale Carracci was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early career:Annibale Carracci was born in Bologna, and in all likelihood first apprenticed within his family...
in fresco decoration of the Farnese Palace. During 1601-1604, his main patron was Cardinal
Paolo Emilio SfondratiPaolo Emilio Sfondrati was an Italian Cardinal.Born to a noble family in Milan and the nephew of Pope Gregory XIV, he was the cardinal priest of Santa Cecilia, papal legate in Bologna, member of the Congregation of the Sant'Offizio and a good friend of San Filippo Neri.He was bishop of Cremona,...
. By 1604-1605, he received an independent commission for an altarpiece of the
Crucifixion of St. Peter. After a few year sojourn in Bologna, he returned to Rome to become one of the premier painters during the papacy of
Paul V-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...
(
BorgheseBorghese is the surname of a family of Italian noble and papal background, originating as the Borghese or Borghesi in Siena, where they came to prominence in the 13th century holding offices under the commune. The head of the family, Marcantonio, moved to Rome in the 16th century and there,...
). From 1607-1614, he was one of the painters patronized by the Borghese family.
Reni's frescoed ceiling of the large central hall of garden palace,
Casino dell'Aurora located in the grounds of the
Palazzo Pallavicini-RospigliosiThe Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi is a palace in Rome, Italy. It was built by the Borghese family on the Quirinal Hill; its footprint occupies the site where the ruins of the baths of Constantine stood, whose remains still are part of the basement of the main building, the Casino dell'Aurora...
, is considered his masterpiece. The casino was originally a pavilion commissioned by Cardinal
Scipione BorgheseScipione Borghese was an Italian Cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the artist Bernini...
; the rear portion overlooks the Piazza Montecavallo and Palazzo del Quirinale. The massive fresco is framed
in quadri riportati and depicts
Apollo in his Chariot preceded by Dawn (Aurora) bringing light to the world. The work is restrained in classicism, copying poses from Roman sarcophagi, and showing far more simplicity and restraint than Carracci's riotous
Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne in the Farnese. Reni in this painting allies himself more with the sterner
Cavaliere d'ArpinoGiuseppe Cesari was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called Cavaliere d'Arpino, because he was created Cavaliere di Cristo by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronized in Rome by both Sixtus V.-Biography:Cesari's father had been a native of Arpino, but...
,
LanfrancoGiovanni Lanfranco was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.-Biography:Giovanni Gaspare Lanfranco was born in Parma, the third son of Stefano and Cornelia Lanfranchi, and was placed as a page in the household of Count Orazio Scotti...
, and
AlbaniFrancesco Albani or Albano was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early years in Bologna:Born 1578 in Bologna, his father was a silk merchant who intended to instruct his son in the same trade; but by age twelve, Albani became an apprentice under the competent mannerist painter Denis Calvaert, where he...
"School" of mytho-historic painting, and less with the more crowded frescoes characteristic of
Pietro da CortonaPietro da Cortona, by the name of Pietro Berrettini, born Pietro Berrettini da Cortona, was the leading Italian Baroque painter of his time and also one of the key architects in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture. He was also an important decorator...
. There is little concession to perspective, and the vibrantly colored style is antithetical to the tenebrism of
CaravaggioMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
's followers. Payments showed that he was paid in 247 scudi and 54 baiocchi upon completion on 24 September 1616.
He also frescoed in Paoline Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome as well as the
AldobrandiniThe Aldobrandini are an Italian noble family from Florence, with close ties to the Vatican. Its Roman fortunes were made when Ippolito Aldobrandini became pope under the name Pope Clement VIII. He arranged the marriage that linked the Aldobrandini with the Roman family of Pamphili...
wings of the Vatican. According to rumor, the pontifical chapel of Montecavallo (Chapel of the Annuciation) was assigned to Reni to paint. However, because he felt underpaid by the ministers, the artist left for Bologna, leaving the role of the preeminent artist in Rome to Domenichino.
Work in Naples and return to Bologna
In later years, Reni traveled to
NaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
to complete a commission to paint a ceiling in a chapel of the
San GennaroNaples Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral, the main church of Naples, southern Italy, and the seat of the Archbishop of Naples. It is widely known as the Cattedrale di San Gennaro, in honour of Saint Januarius, the city's patron saint, but is actually dedicated to the Assumption of the...
. However, in Naples, the other local prominent painters, including
CorenzioBelisario Corenzio was an Italian Mannerist painter, a Greek by birth. He is reputed, with little documentation, to have studied under Tintoretto, in part because his drawings often resemble those of the Venetian painter...
, Caracciolo and Ribera, were vehemently resistant to competitors, and according to rumor, conspired to poison or otherwise harm Reni (as may have befallen Domenichino in Naples after him). He passed briefly by Rome, but left that city abruptly, during the pontificate of
Urban VIIIPope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions...
, after being reprimanded by Cardinal Spinola.
Returning to Bologna, more or less permanently, Reni established a successful and prolific studio.
He was commissioned to decorate the cupola of the chapel of Saint Dominic in the
Basilica of San DomenicoThe Basilica of San Domenico is one of the major churches in Bologna, Italy. The remains of Saint Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers , are buried inside the exquisite shrine Arca di San Domenico, made by Nicola Pisano and his workshop, Arnolfo di Cambio and with later additions by Niccolò...
in Bologna, between 1613 and 1615, resulting in the radiant fresco
St Dominic's Glory, a masterpiece that can stand the comparison with the exquisite
Arca di San DomenicoThe Arca di San Domenico is a monument containing the remains of Saint Dominic. It is located in Dominic’s Chapel in the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna, Italy.- History :...
below. He also contributed to the decoration of the Rosary Chapel in the same church with the
Resurrection.
In Ravenna, he painted the chapel in the cathedral with his admired picture of the
Israelites gathering Manna. Reni, after departing Rome, alternately painted in a variety of styles, true to the eclectic tastes of many of Carracci trainees. For example, his altarpiece for
Samson Victorious formulates stylized poses characteristic of
MannerismMannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
. In contrast his Crucifixion and his
Atlanta and Hipomeneshttp://www.wga.hu/html/r/reni/1/atalantb.html depict dramatic diagonal movement coupled with the effects of light and shade that betray the influence of
CaravaggioMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
. His turbulent and violent
Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca, Bologna) is painted in a manner reminiscent of Raphael. In 1625 Prince
Władysław Sigismund VasaWładysław IV Vasa was a Polish and Swedish prince from the House of Vasa. He reigned as King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 8 November 1632 to his death in 1648....
of
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
visited the artist workshop in Bologna during his voyage to Western Europe. The close rapport between the painter and the Polish Prince resulted in the acquisitions of drawings and paintings. In 1630, he painted the
Pallion del Voto with images of St. Ignatius and Francis Xavier, painted during the plague of 1630 that attacked Bologna.
His most distinguished pupil was
Simone CantariniSimone Cantarini , also known as Simone da Pesaro, was an Italian painter and etcher of the Bolognese School of painting.Cantarini was born in Oropezza near Pesaro, then part of the Papal States....
, named "Il Pesarese"; he painted a portrait of his master, now in the Bolognese Gallery. Other trainees were
Domenico Maria CanutiDomenico Maria Canuti was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Bologna and Rome.Born in Bologna, Canuti first trained in that city under Guido Reni, then with Guercino. He painted many ceiling and wall frescoes...
and
Giovanni Battista MicheliniGiovanni Battista Michelini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Foligno and Rome. He was born in Foligno, but became a pupil of Guido Reni...
. The Uffizi Gallery holds a self-portrait. Other pupils were Giacomo Semenza,
Francesco GessiFrancesco Gessi was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Bologna.Born to a noble family, but his father noticed his attraction to the arts and placed him in the apprenticeship with Denys Calvaert. This did not last, since he apparently disturbed the other pupils. He was more...
, and
Marco BandinelliMarco Bandinelli, also known as Marchino di Guido Reni, was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He began as a model and cook for Guido Reni in Bologna.-References:...
. His themes are mostly biblical and mythological in subject. He painted few portraits; those of
Sixtus VPope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Early life:The chronicler Andrija Zmajević states that Felice's family originated from modern-day Montenegro...
, Cardinal Bernardino Spada, and the so‑called Beatrice Cenci are among the most noticeable. The identity of the Cenci portrait is very doubtful, since Beatrice Cenci was executed in Rome before Reni ever lived there and so could not have sat for the portrait. Many etchings are attributed to Guido Reni, some after his own paintings and some after other masters. They are spirited, in a light style of delicate lines and dots. Reni's technique was used by the Bolognese school and was the standard for Italian printmakers of his time.
Reni died in Bologna in 1642.
He is buried with
Elisabetta Sirani Elisabetta Sirani was an Italian Baroque painter whose father was the painter Giovanni Andrea Sirani of the School of Bologna-Biography:...
in the Rosary Chapel of the
Basilica of San DomenicoThe Basilica of San Domenico is one of the major churches in Bologna, Italy. The remains of Saint Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers , are buried inside the exquisite shrine Arca di San Domenico, made by Nicola Pisano and his workshop, Arnolfo di Cambio and with later additions by Niccolò...
in Bologna.
Partial anthology of works
- Self-Portrait, Whitfield Fine Art
The Whitfield Fine Art Gallery is an art gallery in Mayfair, London, owned and founded by Clovis Whitfield in 1979. The gallery specialises in Italian Old Master paintings.-History:...
http://www.whitfieldfineart.com/?cat=2
- Callisto
In Greek mythology, Callisto or Kallisto was a nymph of Artemis. Transformed into a bear and set among the stars, she was the bear-mother of the Arcadians, through her son Arcas.-Origin of the myth:...
and Diana
- Crucifixion of St Peter, Vatican, Rome
- Christ Crucified, San Lorenzo in Lucina
The Church of St Lawrence's at Lucina is a Roman Catholic parish and titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, dedicated to Saint Lawrence, Roman deacon and martyr. The name Lucina comes from the Roman matron owner of the house on which the church was built.The current Cardinal Priest of...
, Rome
- Holy Trinity, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini
The Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini is a church in the historic city centre of Rome. In the Regola rione, it neighbours other important historic buildings such as the Palazzo Farnese, Ponte Sisto and the Via Giulia.In 2008 Pope Benedict XVI entrusted the parish to the Priestly...
, Rome
- Conception, Forlì
Forlì is a comune and city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the right of the Montone river, and is an important agricultural centre...
- Alms of St. Roch, Bologna
- Massacre of the Innocents, Bologna
- Pietà, Bologna
- Penitent Magdalene ca. 1635, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore http://www.thewalters.org/collections_art/itemdetails.aspx?aid=204
- Penitent Peter, Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art
The Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art is an independent, non-profit art museum located in Shawnee, OK. It is affiliated with St. Gregory's Abbey. It is on the campus of St. Gregory's University. The museum works under the belief that art enriches individual lives and enhances the entire community....
, Shawnee, Oklahoma
- Lament over the Body of Christ, Chiesa dei Mendicanti, Bologna
- Ecce Homo, Gemaldegälerie, Dresden
- Saints Peter and Paul, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
- Assumption of the Virgin, Sant'Ambrogio, Genoa
- Assumption of Mary, Chiesa parrocchiale di Santa Maria, Castelfranco Emilia
Castelfranco Emilia is a town and comune in Italy in the province of Modena, region of Emilia-Romagna. The town lies c. 25 km northwest of Bologna....
- St. Paul the Hermit and St. Anthony in the Wilderness, Berlin
- Fortune, Capitol
- Samson Drinking from the Jawbone of an Ass
- Ariadne Capitoline Museums
The Capitoline Museums are a group of art and archeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The museums are contained in three palazzi surrounding a central trapezoidal piazza in a plan conceived by Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1536 and executed over...
- Atalanta and Hippomenes 1612 Prado, Madrid http://www.wga.hu/html/r/reni/1/atalanta.html
- Atalanta and Hippomenes 1622-25 Capodimonte, Naples http://www.wga.hu/html/r/reni/1/atalantb.html
- Madonna del Rosario, Pinacoteca, Bologna
- The Labors of Hercules, Louvre,
- The Suicide of Lucrezia ca. 1625-40 São Paulo Art Museum
The São Paulo Museum of Art is an art museum located on Paulista Avenue in the city of São Paulo, Brazil...
, São PauloSão Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
- Lucrezia and Cleopatra, Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome
- San Sebastiano, Pinacoteca, Bologna
- Saint Sebastian, Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London. England's first purpose-built public art gallery, it was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane and opened to the public in 1817. Soane arranged the exhibition spaces as a series of interlinked rooms illuminated naturally...
; other versions are in the collections of the Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum in the UK, the Palazzo RossoPalazzo Rosso is an historical palace of Genoa, northern Italy.Situated in Via Garibaldi, it is one of the most important picture galleries of the city, along with the galleries of Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Doria Tursi....
in GenoaGenoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, the Capitoline Museum, the LouvreThe Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
and at least 7 other known originals and multiple copies such as at the Kunsthistorisches MuseumThe Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
in ViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
- Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London. England's first purpose-built public art gallery, it was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane and opened to the public in 1817. Soane arranged the exhibition spaces as a series of interlinked rooms illuminated naturally...
- Adoration of the Magi, Certosa di San Martino
The Certosa di San Martino is a former monastery complex, now a museum, in Naples, southern Italy. It is the most visible landmark of the city, perched atop the Vomero hill that commands the gulf. A Carthusian monastery, it was finished and inaugurated under the rule of Queen Joan I in 1368. It...
, Naples
- Judith, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, United States
The Louvre contains twenty of his pictures, the National Gallery of London seven, and others once there have now been removed to other public collections. The most interesting of the seven is the small
Coronation of the Virgin, painted on copper. It was probably painted before the master left Bologna for Rome.