Felsina Pittrice. Volume IX: Life of Guido Reni

Described by Malvasia as the creator and promoter of the new "maniera moderna," Guido introduces the fourth age of painting: a period marked by a new and sometimes bold elaboration on the notion of artistic perfection developed by the Carracci and achieved more specifically by Ludovico. Art in Italy could have declined again after the deaths of the Carracci, but thanks to Guido and Domenichino, Francesco Albani and Guercino, a renewed flowering of the art of painting prevails in Bologna and spreads throughout Italy. In assessing the role of Guido in promoting this new artistic vanguard, Malvasia finds himself in a theoretical impasse. On the one hand, he cannot resist his infatuation with Guido's work; endowed with spellbinding powers, Guido's paintings embody the greatest luxury of modernity: an endless search for aesthetic refinement and transcendental beauty both in the representation of the human body and in the orchestration of light, color, and impasto. On the other hand, Malvasia cannot bring himself to embrace Guido's "last manner," where delicacy verges on feebleness, transcendence coalesces into purposeless abstraction, divine vision engenders incompleteness, and sprezzatura turns into apparent carelessness. In Malvasia's eyes, Guido is both a model of virtue and the victim of the demonic force of gambling. With acuity, Malvasia praises Guido the money-maker, the self-confident artist able to overhaul the rules of the art market by increasing the value of painting; but he detests Guido the money-squanderer, the indebted artist who gambles away his reputation and, supposedly, the quality of his creations. Richly illustrated, this volume provides a translation and critical edition of the life of Guido, offering copious historical notes filled with documentary information about Guido's biography and the works by Guido mentioned by Malvasia. It constitutes the most thorough treatment of the artist's work in print.