Literature and Art 135 



This made Guide's father very angry, for he had 

 determined that his son should be a great musician, 

 and the father's anger made the boy very unhappy. 



However, one day a great artist chanced to see 

 some of the boy's sketches and persuaded the father 

 to allow Guido to take lessons in drawing and paint- 

 ing. The boy worked hard and learned rapidly. 

 He made such progress that when he was only 

 thirteen years old his teacher often called upon him 

 to help the other students in their work. 



Guido Reni's dearest wish was realized he 

 became an artist but he was never a great artist. 

 His best work was done while he was a young man. 

 As he grew older he became so anxious to make 

 money that he painted hastily and carelessly. He 

 does not seem to have cared whether his pictures 

 were good or bad so long as people bought them. 

 These paintings of his later years are forgotten, but 

 the pictures which Guido painted in the days when 

 his heart was in his work remain and are as much 

 admired to-day as they were more than three hun- 

 dred years ago when the artist lived and worked. 



The best known and most beautiful of Guido 

 Reni's pictures is the " Aurora." He painted it 

 upon the ceiling of a room in a palace in Rome. It 



