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Domenico Zampieri, surnamed Domenichino1 (1581-1641), a painter in whose works, more than in those of any other artist of the time, we occasionally observe the pure artlessness, the free conception of nature, which were peculiar to the contemporaries of Raphael. Even Domenichino, on the whole, and in essentials, could never cast aside the trammels of his school; this indeed was to be the less expected, as he does not appear to have been gifted with a particularly rich fancy. He frequently made use of the compositions of other artistsas in his celebrated picture of the Communion of St. Jerome, now in the Vatican-in which we find a close imitation of the same subject by Agostino Carracci. The imitation is not, however, servile, and there is an interesting individuality in several of the heads. It was seldom that he succeeded perfectly in the higher subjects of inspiration. Among his best specimens are the Four Evangelists, in the pendentives of the cupola of S. Andrea della Valle at Rome-wonderful compositions, in which the group of the St. John, surrounded with angels, constitutes one of the finest efforts we know of this kind. In other historical pictures Domenichino is often cold and studied, especially in the principal subject, while, on the other hand, the subordinate persons have much grace, and a noble character of beauty. Of this the two frescoes in S. Luigi at Rome, from the life of St. Cecilia, are striking examples. It is not the Saint herself, bestowing her goods from a balcony, who constitutes the chief subject, but the masterly group of poor people struggling for them below, The same may be said of the Death of the Saint, where the admiration and grief of the bystanders are inimitable. Also of the Scourging of St. Andrew, in the chapel of that saint, next S. Gregorio, on Monte Celio at Rome: here a group of women, thrust back by the executioners, is of the highest beauty. The most beautiful works are at Fano, in a chapel of the Duomo; they represent scenes from the life of the Virgin, painted in fresco. They have suffered from the smoke, when part of the church was burnt; but we can perceive, in the Visit of Mary to Elizabeth-the best-preserved picture—a feeling for beauty, a purity, candour, and mildness of expres

1 Outlines in Landon, Vies et Euvres, etc., t. Domenichino.

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THE COMMUNION OF ST. JEROME; an oil painting by Domenichino, in the

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sion, such as are perhaps not to be met with in any of his other works. There are many beautiful parts in the frescoes from the history of St. Nilus, which Domenichino painted at Grottaferrata, near Rome, and likewise in those of S. Andrea della Valle, at Rome, particularly the historical scenes on the ceiling of the tribune: they are not, however, free from the faults above mentioned. His great altar-pictures, selected and brought together in the Gallery of Bologna, contain little more than theatrical attitudes. The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian in S. M. degli Angeli, at Rome, is deficient in conception, and altogether in subject lies beyond the sphere of this master. At this time pictures of martyrdom, in which Raphael and his times were so sparing, came greatly into vogue; painters and patrons sought for passionate emotion, and these subjects supplied them with plentiful food.

Another of Domenichino's best works, an oil-painting in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, represents Diana and her Nymphs, some of whom are shooting at a mark with arrows, others are bathing-a very pleasing composition, peculiarly fine in its lines, and full of characteristic movement; but even here the expression of the faces is not equally natural throughout. A beautiful and naïve picture by this master, a guardian Angel defending his charge, a fine, splendid boy, from Satan, is in the Studj Gallery at Naples. The half-length figure of St. John, looking upwards in inspiration, well known by Müller's engraving, though this is not quite true to the original, is in Prince Narischkin's collection at Petersburg. Another, not less admirable, is at Castle Howard. A fine St. Sebastian, with pious women dressing his wounds, somewhat recalling the Venetian manner, is in the Städel Institution at Frankfort.

Like Annibale Carracci, Domenichino was invited to Naples; like him, too, he was persecuted by the Neapolitan painters, who would tolerate no strangers. Of his works in Naples the most important are in the chapel of the Tesoro in the Duomo. He died before their completion-it is suspected, by poison, Domenichino was also an excellent landscape-painter. The

1 Picturæ Domenici Zampierii quæ extant in Sacello sacræ ædi Chryptoferratensi adjuncto, Romæ, 1762.

character of his landscapes, like that of Annibale Carracci's, is decorative; but it is united in a happy manner with warmth of colour, and a cheerful, lively feeling. Excellent works of the kind are in the Villa Ludovisi and in the Doria Gallery in Rome, in the Louvre, and in the National Gallery and Bridgewater Gallery in London.

Domenichino formed but few scholars: one of them, Giambattista Passeri, is one of the most esteemed writers on the history of Italian painting.

Elegance is in one word

Francesco Albani (1578-1660). the characteristic of this painter. He delights in cheerful subjects, in which a playful fancy can expatiate, such as scenes and figures from ancient mythology-above all, Venus and her companions, smiling landscapes, and hosts of charming amorini, who surround the principal groups or even form the subject of the picture. But his works, both landscape and figures, have throughout a merely decorative character; their elegance seldom rises to grace of mind; their playfulness rarely bespeaks real enjoyment. Pictures of the class alluded to are not uncommon in galleries; in the Louvre, especially, there is a number of them. In the Borghese Gallery are the Four Seasons, which might just as well be called the four elements (only one of them by his own hand), with others in the Colonna palace. In the Verospi palace (now the Torlonia palace) are some very pleasing frescoes of an allegoricalmythological nature, still preserved on the ceilings of the Loggia, on the first story. Religious subjects occur less frequently; but in these (some are in the Gallery of Bologna), if not more profound, he appears more skilful, and is tolerably free from exaggeration and affectation. One of his most graceful and frequently repeated compositions is the Infant Christ sleeping on the Cross.

Albani formed various scholars at Bologna and at Rome. The best of these are:-Giovanni Battista Mola, a Frenchman, an unaffected painter, by whom there are some good portraits. Pier Francesco Mola, from the vicinity of Como, excellent in historical pictures, and in single figures, especially as respects colour: his landscapes, of a Biblical and mytho

1 Outlines in Landon, Vies et Œuvres, etc., t. Albani.

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