Background

Guido Reni was born on November 4, 1575 in Bologna, Papal State (present-day Bologna, Italy). He was a son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra Pozzi, both musicians.

Education

At the age of nine, Guido became an apprentice of Denis Calvaert, a Flemish painter, who received him into his academy of design by Reni's father's permission, and rapidly brought him forward, so that by the age of thirteen, Guido had already attained marked proficiency.

Guido was still Calvaert's pupil, when he began to attend the opposition school, kept by Lodovico Caracci, whose style, far in advance of that of the Flemish painter, he dallied with. During his time at the school, Reni completed commissions for his first altarpieces. He left the educational establishment in 1598, after an argument with Ludovico Carracci over unpaid work. Around that time, Guido produced his first prints, a series, commemorating Pope Clement VIII's visit to Bologna in 1598.

Career

In 1601, Reni, together with his fellow student Francesco Albani, traveled to Rome, where they worked with the teams, led by Annibale Carracci, in fresco decoration of the Farnese Palace. At that time, Guido's main patron was Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati. Between 1604-1605, Reni received an independent commission for an altarpiece of the Crucifixion of St. Peter.

In 1614, the painter came back to Bologna, where he established his studio and had nearly 200 pupils, the most distinguished of which were Simone Cantarini and Antonio Randa. At that time, he received a commission to decorate the cupola of the chapel of Saint Dominic in Bologna's Basilica of San Domenico. After a while, this commission resulted in the radiant fresco "Saint Dominic in Glory". Also, during the period from 1614 till 1615, Reni painted "The Israelites Gathering Manna" for a chapel in the cathedral of Ravenna. In 1618, Guido left Bologna for Naples in order to implement a commission to paint a ceiling in a chapel of the cathedral of San Gennaro.

In 1625, Prince Władysław Sigismund Vasa of Poland visited Reni's workshop in Bologna during his visit to Western Europe. That meeting resulted in the acquisition of Reni's drawings and paintings by the Prince.

By the 1630's, the painter's style changed significantly — it became looser, less impastoed and dominated by lighter colors. At that time, Guido experienced financial difficulties, despite the fact, that his works were in great demand. Later in his life, Reni developed something what 17th-century critics called his second manner. In paintings, such as "Cleopatra and Girl with a Wreath", there are no arrangements of poses or garment folds. Their place is taken by a play not of line, but of paint colour, laid on thinly in loose, open brushstrokes. The many pale, commingled hues are all grayed over, so that their color harmonies, at times almost painfully delicate, can be read only with intensive study.

Achievements

• Guido Reni gained prominence as the dominant figure in the Bolognese School. Through his many pupils, he had wide-ranging influence on later Baroque. His most famous works include "Casino dell'Aurora", "Saint Dominic in Glory", "Aurora" and others.
  
  Today, Guido's works are kept in the collections of numerous museums, art institutions and galleries, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the National Gallery in London and others.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • The Queen of Heaven and angels pla

    (Frescoes in the Palazzo Quirinale, Cappella dell'Annuncia...)

  • Angel of the Annunciation

  • Man of Sorrows

  • Charity

  • Portrait of the Artist's Mother

  • Hercules Vanquishing the Hydra of Lerma

  • Susanna and the Elders

  • The Brussels goldsmith Jean Jacobs

  • The Rape of Helen

  • Cleopatra

  • Mary Magdalene in ecstasy at the foot of the cross

  • Hercules on the Pyre

  • Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

  • Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

  • Ecce Homo

  • Andromeda

  • Girl with a Rose

  • Charity

  • Lucretia

  • Portrait of Pope Gregory XV

  • St Joseph

  • Magdalene with the Jar of Ointment

  • The purification of the Virgin

  • St Cecilia

  • Aurora

  • Four seasons

  • Atalanta and Hippomenes

  • Adoration of the Shepherds

  • St Filippo Neri in Ecstasy

  • Assumption

  • Saint Peter

  • Mary and angels

  • Cleopatra

  • St. Catherine

  • Baby Jesus asleep on the Cross

  • Cleopatra

  • David and Goliath

  • The Mendicantini Pieta

  • Encounter of Bradamante and Fiordispina

  • Fortune

  • Saint Peter

  • The Suicide of Lucretia

  • Holy Family

  • Sibylle

  • St. Andrew Corsini in prayer

  • Magdalene in penitence

  • The Baptism of Christ

  • The Toilet of Venus

  • Saint Mark

  • The circumcision of the Child Jesus

  • Coronation of the Virgin with St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Baptist

  • St. Sebastian

  • The Rape of Deianira

  • St. Mary Magdalene

  • The Archangel Michael defeating Satan

  • Self-portrait

  • Saint Roch

  • Portrait of Cardinal Roberto Ubaldini

  • Portrait of a girl with crown

  • Saint Paul

  • Christ in Glory between the angels and archangels

  • St Francis Consoled by Angelic Music

  • St Jerome

  • John the Baptist

  • The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian

  • David with the Head of Goliath

  • Martyrdom of St. Andrew (introduction to the Crucifixion)

  • Reclining Venus with Cupid

  • Ecce Homo

  • Assumption of the Virgin

  • St. Francis

  • Salome with the head of St. John Baptist

  • Head of Saint Joseph

  • Repentant Peter

  • Mary Magdalene

  • Madonna with Child and St. John the Baptist

  • Mary's Birth

  • The Victorious Samson

  • Crucifixion

  • Assumption of Mary

  • The Annunciation

  • Rosary Madonna

  • The Penitent Magdalene

  • The Coronation of the Virgin

  • Mary Magadalen

  • Virgin of the Annunciation

  • Saint Luke

  • Education of the Virgin

  • Saint Matthew

  • Saint John the Baptist

  • The Gathering of the Manna

  • Loth and her daughters fleeing Sodome

  • Cherub sleeps

  • Portrait of old woman

  • Dido and Aeneas

  • St. Sebastian

  • Madonna Enthroned with Saints

  • Crucifixion of St. Peter

  • Drinking Bacchus

  • Portrait of Cardinal Bernardino Spada

  • St Joseph with the Infant Jesus

  • Annunciation

  • St Francis in prayer with Two Angels

  • David

  • St. John the Evangelist

  • David with the head of Goliath

  • John the Baptist

  • Angels

  • Penitent Magdalene

  • St. Cecilia

  • The Rape of Europa

  • St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness

  • Lucretia

  • Crowned love and profane Love

  • Abduction of Deianira

  • Saint John

  • Saint Joseph

  • Mary with child

  • Hercules and Achelous

  • Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

  • Death of Cleopatra

  • Virgin and Child adoring

  • St. Peter and St. Paul

  • Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

  • Bacchus and Ariadne

  • The Boy Bacchus

  • Penitent Mary Magdalene

  • The Glory of St Dominic

  • Massacre of the Innocents

Personality

Guido was personally modest, although he valued himself on his position in the art and would tolerate no slight in that relation. He was extremely upright, temperate in diet, nice in his person and his dress. Also, Reni was fond of stately houses and could feel the charm of solitude.

Also, according to contemporary reports, Guido was neither heterosexual nor homosexual, but absolutely sexless. His obsessive fear of women reached the point, where he believed their slightest touch might poison him.

Connections

Father:

Daniele Reni

Mother:

Ginevra Pozzi

mentor:

Denis Calvaert

mentor:

Ludovico Carracci

Apprentice:

Simone Cantarini

References

• Guido Reni This book contains 185 colour plates of Guido Reni.
  2016
• Guido Reni: 130 Masterpieces This art book with foreword and annotated reproductions by Maria Tsaneva contains 130 selected paintings, drawings and etchings of Guido Reni.
  2014
• The Divine Guido: Religion, Sex, Money and Art in the World of Guido Reni In this highly original study of Italian Baroque master Guido Reni (1575-1642), Richard Spear paints a compelling portrait of the artist -- his complexities, his formative experiences, his cultural surroundings, and his unique sensibilities. Spear views Reni's career from a wide variety of perspectives and sets his life and works in social, economic, historical, artistic, religious and psychological contexts.
  1997
• The Life of Guido Reni This work lets its readers see a major artist of the Italian Baroque through the eyes of his own age. The text contains considerable detail on what Guido painted, as well as his commissions and patrons.
  1990