Storiadellarte.com: italian art history

Guido Reni was born in 1575 a Bologna. He trained in the workshop of the painter Denijs Calvaert before attending the Academy dei Carracci.
The works dating from 1604 to 1614 show the artist had left Mannerism style behind and switched to a more personal style where compositions are balanced and harmonious.
Works from this period include: the frescos in the Paolina Chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, the frescos of the Hall of Ladies and Hall of the Aldobrandini Wedding in the Vatican, the frescos of the Annunciata Chapel in the Quirinale. His masterpieces are Aurora in the Casino of Palazzo Rospigliosi Pallavicini in Rome, Massacre of the Innocents, Triumph of Samson and the Portrait of his mother in the National Picture Gallery of Bologna.
The artist reached full artistic maturity in works like Atalanta and Hyppomenes (Gallery of Capodimonte in Naples), Madonna of the Rosary (Picture Gallery of Bologna), The Labours of Hercules (Louvre), Lucretia and Cleopatra in the Picture Gallery Capitolina of Rome.
His style changed in his last works: colours become darker and shapes loose consistency (visible in St Sebastian in Picture Gallery of Bologna and Adoration of the Magi in the Carthusian monastery of St Martino a Naples).
Guido Reni died in Bologna in 1642.