In the Holy Family (No. 1493) by Sassoferrato (1605–1685) are shown the shallowness and empty formalism which produced the fair-haired, blue-eyed, hyper-sentimental Madonnas with which his name is associated. Carlo Dolci is not represented in the Louvre.
One of the more estimable artists in the Late Roman school is Carlo Maratta (1625–1713), who may be judged by the unsigned Portrait of Marie Madeleine Rospigliosi (No. 1379) and His Own Portrait (No. 1380).
Two paintings of Fruit (Nos. 1254, 1255) stand to the credit of M. A. Cerquozzi (1602–1660), and the art of G. B. Castiglione, of Genoa (1616–1670), is seen in his Abraham and Melchizedek (No. 1250) and Animals and Utensils (No. 1252).
THE “ECLECTICS”
A revolt against the methods of the “Mannerists” was made by the Carracci when they opened their school of art at Bologna in 1589. These “Eclectics” (“Pickers and Choosers”) advocated a careful study of “the drawing of Rome, the Venetian shadow, the terrific force of Michelangelo’s manner, the natural truth of Titian, the pure and sovereign style of Correggio, the true symmetry of Raphael, the dignity and principle of Tibaldi, the invention of the learned Primaticcio, together with a little of the grace of Parmigianino”! It is not surprising that they in their turn soon sank into mere academic mediocrity.
The Louvre is notoriously rich in representative examples of the “Eclectic” painters’ art. The name of Lodovico Carracci (1555–1619), the founder of this school at Bologna, is included in the official Catalogue, but neither of his two pictures is at present exhibited. Lodovico had as cousins, Agostino (1557?–1602) and Annibale (1560?–1609), who also worked in Rome. Six of Annibale Carracci’s fifteen pictures in this collection are now exhibited. The Madonna of the Cherries (No. 1217) and the Sleeping Child Jesus (No. 1218) are characteristic, while his huge canvas of The Virgin appearing to St. Luke and St. Catherine (No. 1219) in every way exemplifies the art of this painter and his school. It is inscribed:
ANNIBAL CARACTIUS F. MDXCII.
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.