ared at his best. Vasari (1511-1574)--the
same Vasari who wrote the lives of the painters--had versatility and
facility, but his superficial imitations of Michael Angelo were too
grandiose in conception and too palpably false in modelling. Salviati
(1510-1563) was a friend of Vasari, a painter of about the same cast
of mind and hand as Vasari, and Federigo Zucchero (1543-1609) belongs
with him in producing things muscularly big but intellectually small.
Baroccio (1528-1612), though classed among the Mannerists as an
imitator of Correggio and Raphael, was really one of the strong men of
the late times. There was affectation and sentimentality about his
work, a prettiness of face, rosy flesh tints, and a general lightness
of color, but he was a superior brushman, a good colorist, and, at
times, a man of earnestness and power.

[Illustration: FIG. 53.--BAROCCIO. ANNUNCIATION.]

THE ECLECTICS: After the Mannerists came the Eclectics of Bologna, led
by the Caracci, who, about 1585, sought to "revive" art. They started
out to correct the faults of the Mannerists, and yet their own art was
based more on the art of their great predecessors than on nature. They
thought to make a union of Renaissance excellences by combining
Michael Angelo's line, Titian's color, Correggio's light-and-shade and
Raphael's symmetry and grace. The attempt was praiseworthy for the
time, but hardly successful. They caught the lines and lights and
colors of the great men, but they overlooked the fact that the
excellence of the imitated lay largely in their inimitable
individualities, which could not be combined. The Eclectic work was
done with intelligence, but their system was against them and their
baroque age was against them. Midway in their career the Caracci
themselves modified their eclecticism and placed more reliance upon
nature. But their pupils paid little heed to the modification.

There were five of the Caracci, but three of them--Ludovico
(1555-1619), Agostino (1557-1602), and Annibale (1560-1609)--led the
school, and of these Annibale was the most distinguished. They had
many pupils, and their influence was widely spread over Italy. In Sir
Joshua Reynolds's day they were ranked with Raphael, but at the
present time criticism places them where they belong--painters of the
Decadence with little originality or spontaneity in their art, though
much technical skill. Domenichino (1581-1641) was the strongest of the
pupils. His St. Jerome wa