s rated by Poussin as one of the three great
paintings of the world, but it never deserved such rank. It is
powerfully composed, but poor in coloring and handling. The painter
had great repute in his time, and was one of the best of the
seventeenth century men. Guido Reni (1575-1642) was a painter of many
gifts and accomplishments, combined with many weaknesses. His works
are well composed and painted, but excessive in sentiment and overdone
in pathos. Albani (1578-1660) ran to elegance and a porcelain-like
prettiness. Guercino (1591-1666) was originally of the Eclectic School
at Bologna, but later took up with the methods of the Naturalists at
Naples. He was a painter of far more than the average ability.
Sassoferrato (1605-1685) and Carlo Dolci (1616-1686) were so
super-saturated with sentimentality that often their skill as painters
is overlooked or forgotten. In spirit they were about the weakest of
the century. There were other eclectic schools started throughout
Italy--at Milan, Cremona, Ferrara--but they produced little worth
recording. At Rome certain painters like Cristofano Allori
(1577-1621), an exceptionally strong man for the time, Berrettini
(1596-1669), and Maratta (1625-1713), manufactured a facile kind of
painting from what was attractive in the various schools, but it was
never other than meretricious work.

[Illustration: FIG. 54.--ANNIBALE CARACCI. ENTOMBMENT OF CHRIST.
LOUVRE.]

THE NATURALISTS: Contemporary with the Eclectics sprang up the
Neapolitan school of the Naturalists, led by Caravaggio (1569-1609)
and his pupils. These schools opposed each other, and yet influenced
each other. Especially was this true with the later men, who took what
was best in both schools. The Naturalists were, perhaps, more firmly
based upon nature than the Bolognese Eclectics. Their aim was to take
nature as they found it, and yet, in conformity with the extravagance
of the age, they depicted extravagant nature. Caravaggio thought to
represent sacred scenes more truthfully by taking his models from the
harsh street life about him and giving types of saints and apostles
from Neapolitan brawlers and bandits. It was a brutal, coarse
representation, rather fierce in mood and impetuous in action, yet not
without a good deal of tragic power. His subjects were rather dismal
or morose, but there was knowledge in the drawing of them, some good
color and brush-work and a peculiar darkness of shadow masses
(originally gained