Guido Reni - Bright, frank and emotional paintings have been at the peak of popularity for 400 years

Welcome friends to the Touch Art Channel. Today we will get acquainted with the biography and work of one of the most famous artists in Italy who did a lot for the art of the Baroque era, Guido Reni. Let's see his magnificent paintings and figure out why they have attracted the attention of viewers for more than 400 years. A lot of interesting things await us ahead, let's go! Guido Reni was one of the great lyrical masters of painting of the 17th century. He was born on November 4, 1575, Calvinzano, Emilia-Romagna, into a family of musicians and was the only child of Daniele Reni and Ginevra Pazzi. At the age of nine, he began to study painting. Together with Domenichino and Francesco Albani, Reni studied oil painting with the Flemish Dennis Calvert, 1540 to 1619. When Reni was about 20 years old, three of Calvert's students, including himself, moved to a growing rival studio called the Accademia Degli in Caminati, headed by Lodovico Caracci. There he continued his artistic education, where the emphasis was on the study of landscape painting. And thus they determined the course of their future development. However, from the very beginning he went his own way in the new atmosphere of naturalism heralded by Caracci, as a reaction to Mannerism and Mannerist painting of the late 16th century. Possessing an unapologetic and aristocratic character, Reni did not look for his models in nature, as did Annibale and Lodovico Caracci, but preferred instead to follow the cult of beauty and grace that originated in the works of Raphael during the High Renaissance in Rome. In fact, Reni was fascinated by Raphael's Saint Cecilia in the Church of San Giovanni in Monti in Bologna, and was inspired by it to create his first important altarpiece, the Coronation of the Virgin. He also made an exact copy of it, which later ended up in Rome, in the Church of Slow and reserved by nature, Reni long freed himself from influences that stood in the way of his full development as an artist. In 1602, Reni traveled to Rome to study the work of Raphael, as well as Greek sculpture. He also encountered the work of Caravaggio, and this proved important as it encouraged him to experiment with Caravaggism without abandoning his own conventional ideals. The painting The Crucifixion of Saint Peter, painted for the Church of San Paolo alle Quattro Fontane, Vatican, was his first important work. Going beyond the naturalism of Caravaggio, who admired his brilliance and pictorial values, Reni confirmed his personal vision of painting as an image purified of all ugliness and vulgarity. From this time on his uncertainty disappeared, and he achieved success in both Bologna and Rome, spending time in each city in turn. Now freed from all outside influence, he refined his expressive language using classical linear rhythms and translucent shadows, exquisitely subtle tonal values, resulting in a stream of masterpieces. The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew for the Church of San Gregorio Alcielo in Rome, 1608, is a large fresco that combines the influence of Raphael beautifully with a very modern feel to the landscape background. The scenes from the Life of the Virgin in the Chapel of the Annunciation in the Quirinale are distinguished by the art of charming intimacy. Samson the Victorious and the Massacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem, 1611, Bologna, are important landmarks of 17th-century classicism and are superbly constructed with their juxtapositions of color and rhythmic accents. In Rome, he painted the famous large Baroque ceiling fresco, the Aurora Ceiling, in the Palazzo Palava Signora Spigliosi in 1614. At the peak of his success, Reni finally settled in Bologna. This decision may have been forced upon him as a result of some differences with the Papal Curia, or it may have been prompted by the need for greater independence, which was more easily found in the provinces. This return to his homeland coincided with a significant enrichment of his art. The great and severe altar of the Mendicants, Pinnacottica Nazionale, Bologna, built in two parts, Piedet and Patron Saints of Bologna, like a quattrocento painting, testifies to a spiritual crisis resolved poetically. From his crucifixion for the Church of the Capuchins, 1616, Pinnacottica Nazionale, Bologna, to the labors of Hercules, Louvre, from the Annunciation, Genoa, Church of San Ambrogio, to Atlantet and Hippomenes, Capodimont Museum, Naples, tension increased to such an extent that it became difficult to maintain the framework of the classical balance that Reni established for himself. In fact, after 1620 he allowed himself moments of grace, elegance, and theatrical sentimentality, which alternated with works of great spiritual intensity. Thus, all his depictions of famous women, Cleopatra, Lucretia, Semiramis, Salome, Judith, demonstrate the amorous languor for which he became famous, but which was also his greatest weakness. At the same time, he created many religious paintings of excessive piety. Working on this religious art, he created new images, the unearthly beauty of which gave birth to a light that seemed increasingly unreal. Gradually his palette brightened, acquiring the iridescent reflections of the virgin and child surrounded by angels and patron saints of Bologna. This degree of poetic exaltation led to the use of increasingly clear and silvery colors, which, however, were associated with a feeling of unease. The high spirituality of some of his works led his contemporaries to mistake them for preparatory sketches. Saint Sebastian, Saint John the Baptist, Madonna and Child with Saint John, Lucrezia, The Maiden with the Crown and Cleopatra, Entire Capitoline Gallery, Rome, and Flagellation, National Pinnacottica, Bologna. Through these beautiful compositions, so long misunderstood, Reni freed himself from the uniformity of the classical artists of the 17th century and established himself among the greatest artists of the Italian Baroque and one of the most lyrical artists of his time. In the 1630s, Reni lightened his palette and his technique loosened in response to a taste for less somber paintings. His Church of Saint Michael and the Church of Santa Maria della Concesione de Cappuccini in Rome, due to its beauty, was a major tourist attraction. Reni was also a famous, although infrequent, portrait painter. His portrait of Cardinal Bernardino Spada is the archetype of the educated cleric. During this time, Reni became addicted to gambling, which forced him to increase his production, mainly with the help of the studio. Reni earned huge sums from his painting in Bologna, where he became the city's leading artist after the death of Ludovico Carracci in 1619. But even the artist's high fees did not help him get out of debt. Little by little, his passion for gambling ruined his talent. His very later works became more monochrome and painted in thin layers, similar to a veil. Reni's freer and more flamboyant style was continued by his student Giovanni Andrea Serrani 1610-70 and his daughter Elisabetta 1638-65, who became the most famous female artist of her time. The painter Guido Reni is also known as an engraver. He executed the prince, the virgin and child, based on his own painting, and the holy family, from the painting by Annibale Carracci. Guido Reni was one of the most famous representatives of the Bolognese school of painting, which, under the leadership of Annibale Carracci and his brother Agostino Carracci, 1557-1602, did so much to define Baroque art in Rome, Venice, and Naples in the period 1590-1630. Like all members of the Carracci Academy, Reni imbibed the classical tradition of careful, solid drawing, and although he experimented with the new naturalism of Caravaggio, his main influences on his graceful style were Greek sculpture and Raphael. Guido Reni, by the end of his career, became Italy's most famous artist with a European reputation. The purity and spirituality of his Baroque classicism became a touchstone for religious art in the Catholic world, as did the later work of Carlo Dalci in Florence and Murillo in Spain. Besides the Aurora Fresco, his best Baroque paintings include David with the head of Goliath, Atlanta, and Hippomenes, and The Suicide of Cleopatra. On August 18, 1642, Guido Reni died in Bologna. Reni's reputation as an important representative of classical Baroque painting has endured for four centuries, and his paintings can be seen in many of the world's best art museums. With you were the Touch Art Channel, and the work of the Italian artist Guido Reni. If you liked the video, don't forget to join our community of lovers of great art. Thank you.