SKETCHES OF THE OLD MASTERS. 253 



lovely and sightly villa, presided over by his beautiful wife, who 

 bore him twelve children, so lovely that they were sought for as 

 models in sculpture and painting. Another friend of Albani was 



Domenichino (pronounced keno), real name DOMENICO ZAM- 

 PIERI. He was born at Bologna in 1581, and died at Naples in 

 1640. He was a man of eminent genius, but timid, dependent, 

 and ill-fitted to make his way against the rivalries that raged in 

 his time among artists. He left Rome and went to Naples, to 

 avoid the persecutions of rivals ; and there he is supposed to have 

 been poisoned at the instigation of three painters, notoriously 

 known as the cabal of Naples. He excelled in design, in compo- 

 sition, and in expression. His masterpieces are quite numerous, 

 but the best is his "Last Communion of St. Jerome" in the 

 Vatican ; this is generally called the second best painting in the 

 world, and was executed for the pitiful sum of about fifty dollars. 



Guercino (Gurcheno), so called from his squinting, his real 

 name being GIOVANNI FRANCISCO BARBIERI, was born at Cento, 

 near Bologna, in 1590, and died in Bologna 1666. He was of 

 very humble origin, and when a boy had to take care of his 

 father's cart, as he delivered wood and faggots about the town. 

 Almost the only one of the great painters who was self-taught 

 and self-made, he yet arrived, by force of an original and com- 

 manding ability, to great distinction and affluence. There is a 

 grandeur, life-likeness, and brilliancy of coloring in his works, 

 which, after Raphael, and with a century between them, formed 

 the second crowning point of Italian art. Guercino painted two 

 hundred and fifty large pictures, besides his frescoes and numer- 

 ous smaller works. His best production is probably the famous 

 Saint Petronilla in the Capitol Gallery in Rome. It was painted 

 for one of the chapels of St. Peter's where there is now a mosaic 

 of it. The saint is being held up in her tomb to be seen by 

 Flaccus, her betrothed. 



Carlo Dolci (Dol-che), a native of Florence, was born in 1616, 

 and died in 1686. His best works were those of a devotional 

 character, Madonnas and penitent saints. To these subjects he 

 gave great beauty and grace ; and among the enthusiasts of sacred 

 pictures this painter has many passionate admirers. His Mater 



