eems
to have done little or nothing, although he was not inexpert in the
art. He designed in great part the Villa di Belvedere at Frascati, and
the whole of the Villa Ludovisi, and some other edifices. From 1630
onwards Domenichino was engaged in Naples, chiefly on a series of
frescoes (never wholly completed) of the life of St Januarius in the
Cappella del Tesoro. He settled in that city with his family, and opened
a school. There the persecution against him became far more shameful
than in any previous instance. The notorious so-called "Cabal of
Naples"--the painters Corenzio, Ribera and Caracciolo--leagued together
as they were to exclude all alien competition, plagued and decried the
Bolognese artist in all possible ways; for instance, on returning in the
morning to his fresco work, he would find not infrequently that someone
had rubbed out the performance of the previous day. Perpetual worry is
believed to have brought the life of Domenichino to a close;
contemporary suspicion did not scruple to speak broadly of poison, but
this has remained unconfirmed. He died in Naples, after two days'
illness, on the 15th of April 1641.

Domenichino, in correctness of design, expression of the passions, and
simplicity and variety in the airs of his heads, has been considered
little inferior to Raphael; but in fact there is the greatest gulf fixed
between the two. Critics of the 18th century adulated the Bolognese
beyond all reason or toleration; he is now regarded as commonplace in
mind and invention, lacking any innate ideality, though undoubtedly a
forcible, resolute and learned executant. "We must," says Lanzi,
"despair to find paintings exhibiting richer or more varied draperies,
details of costume more beautifully adapted, or more majestic mantles.
The figures are finely disposed both in place and action, conducing to
the general effect; whilst a light pervades the whole which seems to
rejoice the spirit, growing brighter and brighter in the aspect of the
best countenances, whence they first attract the eye and heart of the
beholder. The persons delineated could not tell their tale to the ear
more plainly than they speak it to the eye. The 'Scourging of St
Andrew,' which he executed in competition with Guido Reni at Rome (a
fresco in the church of San Gregorio), is a powerful illustration of
this truthful expression. Of the two works of these masters, Annibale
Caracci preferred that of Domenichino. It is said that in paint