108 THE FINE ARTS. 
pany with him. Domenichino at first experienced violent opposition, and 
his bashful nature was looked upon as weakness; but he was all the more 
esteemed and honored in the end. The number of his works is great ; but 
the most celebrated is his St. John, one of the four Evangelists, which he 
painted in the church of St. Andrea della Valle in Rome, the cupola of 
which, as we mentioned above (p. 105), was painted by Lanfranco. There 
are also some beautiful works of Domenichino in Naples. He ranks indis- 
putably among the most accomplished painters; he made use of the 
antique with great ability, and in point of expression he stands next to 
Raphael. His coloring is beautiful, powerful, and natural, and his compo- 
sitions are for the most part full of grace and spirit. 
As painting in Rome, Florence, and Venice, after reaching its most 
brilliant period, began to decline, so too in Lombardy it now began to 
approach its fall. The rage for novelty, the numerous rival styles, the 
eagerness to banish the difficulties of the art and to facilitate its study at 
the expense of thoroughness, made their appearance here likewise. 
Although Bologna had become the first school of Italy, still the countless 
different styles of the pupils of the Caracci combined with the methods of 
other artists, especially with the followers of Pietro da Cortona, hastened 
the downfall of art. Among all the pupils of the Caraccis, although they 
were excellent, but few are distinguished by any peculiar characteristics : 
they all drew from the same stream, without examining whether its waters 
were pure or turbid, and but few gave themselves the trouble to ascend to 
its source. Carlo Cignani, who was born in Bologna in 1628, and died in 
1719, was the first to bring about a revolution. He early applied himself 
to the study of the works of Titian, Correggio, and the Caraccis, and formed 
for himself an individual manner distinguished by very accurate drawing 
and great power of coloring. His very first works gained him great repu- 
tation and so many commissions, that he was prevented from devoting the 
requisite attention to his own improvement, by means of which he would 
otherwise have risen to the highest grade of excellence. 
Among the finest works which Cignani has left us are two frescoes, with 
which he in company with his fellow-pupil Taruffi adorned the Farnese hall 
in the public palace of Bologna. These two pictures painted by Cignani 
himself represent, one of them Francis I. of France touching for the king’s 
evil in Bologna, and the other the entrance of Pope Paul III. (Farnese) 
into the same city. Cignani painted a great deal in fresco, both in Bologna, 
in Parma, and in other places: in acknowledgment of his merits he had 
bestowed on him the title of count and cavalier. Besides the innumerable 
pictures which he painted for many noble houses of Italy, he worked also 
for the emperor, the king of France, prince Adam of Lichtenstein, and 
for the elector of Bavaria and the Palatinate. In the city of Forli, 
where he resided for many years. for the purpose of painting the great 
cupola of the church of the Madonna del Fuoco, he kept his school of 
painting as he had done in Bologna; and from it a good many tolerably 
able artists proceeded. His easel-pictures are found in almost every gallery 
of importance ; one of the best of them is in Dresden: it represents Joseph 
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