Pictures of this type were much sought after and prized in the
eighteenth century, when this one was seized by Napoleon in Italy,
but to-day a higher standard of æsthetics has deservedly ruled them
out of fashion. On the other hand, sufficient attention is not now
paid to some of the landscape pictures which the “Eclectics” painted;
Annibale’s _Fishing_ (No. 1233) and _Hunting_ (No. 1232) are worth the
attention of the student. Antonio Carracci (1583-1618), a less-known
member of this family, is the author of a large canvas depicting _The
Deluge_ (No. 1235).
Guido Reni, after working under Denis Calvaert at Bologna, entered
the school of the Carracci. This fitful sentimentalist indulged in
idealised abstractions that were neither human nor divine, as may
be seen from his _David and Goliath_ (No. 1439) and _St. Sebastian_
(No. 1450) on the one hand, and his _Ecce Homo_ (No. 1447) and _Mary
Magdalene_ (No. 1448) on the other. Four of his large mythological
paintings (Nos. 1453, 1454, 1455, 1457) show some technical ability.
Francesco Albani (1578-1660) was influenced by the Carracci and Guido
Reni. The _Diana and Actaeon_ (No. 1111) may be selected out of his
nine productions mentioned in the Catalogue. Domenichino (1581-1641),
a pupil of the Carracci, the assistant of Annibale and a friend of
Guido Reni in Rome, was a sentimentalist of the most pronounced order.
His hard execution and unpleasant colouring can be judged in his _St.
Cecilia_ (No. 1613),—her features are singularly ill-proportioned,—but
nine of his other pictures do not take up any of the valuable wall
space.
The self-taught artist and insipid Guercino (“The Squintling”)
(1591-1666), after working in Rome, settled in 1642 at Bologna, where
he died in affluent circumstances. His _Raising of Lazarus_ (No.
1139), the large _Patron Saints of Modena_ (No. 1143), together with a
_Circe_ (No. 1147) and _The Painters Own Portrait_ (No. 1148), are now
exhibited. These and such pictures as were painted by G. A. Donducci
(1575-1655), G. F. Grimaldi (1606-1680), S. Cantarini (1612-1648), and
G. M. Crespi (1665-1747), provoked a fresh reaction.