Guido Beni

Guido Beni, who is usually known as Guido (1575-1642), the great Bolognese painter, was-born at Calvenzano, near Bologna, his father being a music master. He was placed in the studio of the Caracci, and took lessons in fresco-painting from Ferrantini. In his early period, to which belong The Massacre of the Innocents and the Pietu in the Bologna Gallery he was under the influence of Caravaggio. In 1596 he went to Rome, and studied the work of Raffaelle. He remained under the spell of that master in his second period, to which belong his Aurora Preceding the Chariot of the Sun (in the Palazzo Rospigliosi at Rome) and his unfinished Nativity in San Martino, at Naples. During his third period he modelled himself in the art of classic antiquity and attained great delicacy, but lost warmth. Among Guido's pupils were many of the best Bolognese painters, among whom was "II Pesarese" (Contarini), whose portrait of his master is at Bologna. The Louvre, the Dresden Gallery, and the Museo at Madrid are especially rich in Guidos. There is one at Hampton Court, and the National Gallery has a Coronation of the Viryinin his early manner, three in his second and best, and two in his last.