V. Painting in Italy in the Seventeenth

and Eighteenth Centuries. In a previous chapter we alluded to the decline of painting in Italy on the death of the great masters of the Renaissance — a decline marked by the same pecu- liarities as that which succeeded the golden age of sculpture ; technical dexterity ranked higher than artistic genius, and the minor peculiarities of celebrated men were servilely imitated, without any endeavour to catch their spirit or grasp the meaning of their grand con- ceptions. As early as the close of the sixteenth century an at- tempt was made to revive the art of painting in Italy, and two distinct classes of artists arose to whom the general names of Eclectics and Naturalists have been given : the former endeavoured to combine the best qualities of all the great Cinque-cento masters with the imitation of nature ; the latter professed to study nature exclusively, and to imitate faithfully and boldly every detail of ordinary life. These two schools exercised great influence, alike on each other and on their cotemporaries in other countries. 1. The Eclectic School of Bologna. The leading Eclectic School of Italy — that of Bologna — was founded by Lodovico Carracci (1555 — 1619), in con- junction with his two cousins, Agostino Carracci (1557 — 1602) and Annibale Carracci (1560 — 1609). Lodovico appears to have been rather a teacher than an original painter. His principal works are at Bologna : the En- throned Madonna ivith SS. Francis and Jerome, a