The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born at Bologna, 1581. Died at Naples, 1641. Aged 60.] A famous painter of the Bolognese school. A pupil of the Carracci. At Rome, painted some frescos, and other pictures, but was poorly paid. His life one series of misfortunes. His fame and skill excited the jealousy of the Roman and Neapolitan artists, who destroyed his paintings, mixed deleterious compounds with his colours, and--it is believed--at last poisoned him. His works occasionally reveal artlessness, and a clear conception of nature, but he never escapes from the trammels of the imitative school of the Carracci. His great work, the “Communion of St. Jerome,” pronounced by Poussin only inferior to the Transfiguration of Raffaelle. Yet for this picture, Domenichino received fifty scudi--about ten guineas. In person, stout and short--hence his name, Domenichino (little Dominic). Passionately fond of music, and devoted to study and tranquillity. Whilst he painted, he would have his house as quiet and as noiseless as a monastery. [By Alessandro d’Este. There is another bust of him in the Louvre by Mlle. Charpentier.]