Guido. In the first place, there is not the
same unity of composition in Guercino's. It is very fine in all its
parts; but still it _is_ in parts. It is not so fine a _whole_, nor is
it so perfect a composition, nor has it the same charm as Guido's.
Neither is there the same ideal beauty in the Aurora. Guercino's is a
mortal--Guido's a truly ethereal being. Guercino's Aurora is in her car,
drawn by two heavenly steeds, and the shades of night seem to dissipate
at her approach. Old Tithonus, whom she has left behind her seems half
awake; and the morning star, under the figure of a winged genius bearing
his kindled torch, follows her course. In a separate compartment, Night,
in the form of a woman, is sitting musing, or slumbering, over a book.
She has much of the character of a Sibyl. Her dark cave is broken open,
and the blue sky and the coming light break beautifully in upon her and
her companions, the sullen owl and flapping bat, which shrink from its
unwelcome ray. The Hours are represented under the figure of children,
fluttering about before the goddess, and extinguishing the stars of
night--a beautiful idea; but one, perhaps, better adapted to poetry than
painting. The Hours of Guercino are, however, infinitely less poetic
and less beautiful than the bright female forms which encircle the car
of day in Guido's _Aurora_. Yet it is a masterpiece of painting; and but
for the _Aurora_ of Guido, we could have conceived nothing beyond the
_Aurora_ of Guercino.

_Rome in the Nineteenth Century_ (5th edition, London, 1852).

AURORA

(_GUIDO RENI_)

JOHN CONSTABLE

Although no distinct landscape is known by the hand of Guido, yet in a
history of this particular branch it may not be improper to notice its
immense importance as an accessory in his picture of _Aurora_. It is the
finest instance I know of the beauty of natural landscape brought to aid
a mythological story, and to be sensible of its value we have only to
imagine a plain background in its stead. But though Guido has placed us
in the heavens, we are looking towards the earth, where seas and
mountain-tops are receiving the first beams of the morning sun. The
chariot of Apollo is borne on the clouds, attended by the Hours and
preceded by Aurora, who scatters flowers, and the landscape, instead of
diminishing the illusion, is the chief means of producing it, and is
indeed most essential to the story.

Leslie, _Life and Letters of John Const