Aurora, Goddess of the Morning.
Apollo, the Sun God.
The Story of Phaëthon, Apollo’s Son.
=The story of the artist.= Guido Reni was born in the little village of
Bologna, Italy. As a small child he gave every promise of becoming an
accomplished musician. His father, himself a gifted performer, began to
teach him to play the flute and harpsichord as soon as he was old enough
to handle the instruments. Guido had a beautiful voice, and the father
hoped to make a fine musician of him. But the boy also had a beautiful,
sunshiny face which attracted the attention of an artist, who asked
permission to paint him as an angel in several pictures. After watching
this artist at work, Guido began to wish to paint pictures, too, and was
permitted to take a few lessons.
His first picture was a surprise to the artist, causing him to urge
Guido’s father to allow the boy to develop his talent. About this time,
too, Guido began to make all kinds of interesting figures in clay, and
his fingers were always busy.
At thirteen years of age he so excelled the other pupils of the artist
that he was allowed to teach some of them.
Later Guido went to Rome, where he remained for twenty years in great
favor. He then moved to Bologna and there opened a large school for art
students. He made his home in Bologna during the rest of his life. Guido
Reni might have lived all his life in splendor and ease, for he earned
great sums of money; but as his fame grew he became more and more
extravagant in his habits, and so was always in debt. He was obliged to
paint hurriedly, and to the utmost of his genius, that he might have
more pictures to sell.
However, his keen sense of beauty did not desert him, and his popularity
continued to the end. He was especially skillful in representing
beautiful upraised faces of women and children. One day a young nobleman
met Guido Reni and asked him where he found such lovely models for his
paintings. He said the other artists were wondering about it and thought
him very selfish to keep them to himself. Guido replied in a mysterious
voice, “Come to my studio, signor, and I will show you my beautiful
model.” So, filled with delight and eager anticipation, the nobleman
tiptoed after the artist up the stairs to the studio. You can imagine
how he must have felt when Guido Reni called his color-grinder, who has
been described as “a great greasy fellow, with a brutal look,” and posed
him.
As the color-grinder sat quietly looking up through the skylight, Guido
took a pencil and after sketching very rapidly for a few minutes, showed
his guest a sketch of a beautiful Magdalen gazing upward. Then turning
to his visitor, he said earnestly, “Dear Count, say to your ‘other
artists’ that a beautiful idea must be in the imagination, and in that
case any model will serve.”
Guido Reni had the greatest admiration for the paintings of Raphael and
went to Rome just to study them.
As he loved to work with clay himself, he spent much of his time in Rome
studying the beautiful pieces of statuary there. He tells us that his
favorites were the Venus de Medici and Niobe.
Pleasant and courteous to all, he made friends everywhere and was
greatly beloved. Once when he was very ill his friends hired musicians
to play just outside his door. This pleased him greatly, as he was
always passionately fond of music. He said to them, “And what, then,
will be the melodies of Paradise?”
Guido Reni was a great favorite of Pope Paul V and many of his pictures
were painted for the Pope. When he returned from Rome to Bologna, he
found himself more popular than ever and quite overwhelmed with orders
for pictures.
Of all his paintings, the “Aurora” is generally considered his best. The
story is told of a little girl who had lived all her life in the
country. Upon her first visit to her uncle in the city, she discovered a
large and splendid copy of the “Aurora” in his living room. One morning
her uncle came into the room and found his little niece gazing at the
picture in rapt admiration.
“Well, Mary,” he said, “what do you think of it?”
“Oh, uncle,” she replied, “I like it ‘cause they are in such a hurry.”
So young and old have found one reason or another for liking this
picture.
Guido Reni painted many portraits as well as many historical and
mythological pictures. Some of the best known of Guido’s paintings are:
“Reclining Venus with Cupid,” “St. Michael and the Dragon,” “Beatrice
Cenci,” “Little Bacchus Drinking,” and “The Mater Dolorosa of Solimena.”
=Questions about the artist.= Where was the artist born? What two
talents had he? How did he happen to study painting? How did he succeed
with his first picture? What was his progress? Why was he never rich?
What subjects did he choose? What did the young nobleman ask him? Tell
of the nobleman’s visit to the artist’s studio. Whose paintings did
Guido Reni admire greatly? What statues? How was he able to make so many
friends? What was his masterpiece? What did the little country girl say
about it? Name some of his paintings.
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[Illustration: AVENUE AT MIDDELHARNIS