Guido Reni, born in Bologna into a…
December 1605 CE
Guido Reni, born in Bologna into a family of musicians, is the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi.
As a child of nine, he had been apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert.
Soon after, he was joined in that studio by Albani and Domenichino.
He may also have trained with a painter by the name of Ferrantini.
When Reni was about twenty years old, the three Calvaert pupils had migrated to the rising rival studio, named Accademia degli Incamminati (Academy of the "newly embarked", or progressives), led by Lodovico Carracci.
They went on to form the nucleus of a prolific and successful school of Bolognese painters who followed Annibale Carracci to Rome.
Like many other Bolognese painters, Reni's painting is thematic and eclectic in style.
Reni and Albani had by late 1601 moved to Rome to work with the teams led by Annibale Carracci in fresco decoration of the Farnese Palace; his main patron during 1601-1604 was Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati.
Having received an independent commission for an altarpiece of the Crucifixion of St. Peter by 1604-1605, he begins a few years’ few year sojourn in Bologna.