s to be
a good painter acquire the design of Rome, Venetian action and
chiaroscuro, the dignified colouring of Lombardy (that is to say, of
Leonardo da Vinci), the terrible manner of Michelangelo, Titian's truth
and nature, the sovereign purity of Correggio, and the perfect symmetry
of Raphael. The decorum and well-grounded study of Tibaldi, the
invention of the learned Primaticcio, and a _little_ of the grace of
Parmigiano."

This "patchwork ideal," as Kugler calls it, was, however, but a
transition step in the history of the Carracci and their art. In the
prime of their activity they threw off a great deal of their
eclecticism, and attained an independence of their own. The merit of
Lodovico is chiefly that of a reformer and a teacher, and the pictures
by Agostino are few and of no great account. But in Annibale we find
much more than imitation of the characteristics of great masters. In his
earlier works there are rather obvious traces of Correggio and Paul
Veronese, but under the influence of the works of Raphael and
Michelangelo and of the antique, as he understood it, he developed a
style of his own. Though in recent years he is a little out of fashion
with the public, there is no question about his having a place among the
greater artists. To show how opinion can change, I venture to quote a
passage from a letter written to me on the subject of Carracci's _The
Three Maries_, lately presented to the National Gallery by the Countess
of Carlisle:--"I saw the gallery at Castle Howard in 1850. _The Three
Maries_ was then still regarded as one of _the_ great pictures of the
world; and they told the story of how Lord Carlisle and Lord Ellesmere
and Lord----, who shared the Paris purchases [after the Peace of 1815]
between them, had to cast lots for this, because it was thought to be
worth more than all the rest of the spoil."

The most important, or at any rate one of the most popular, of the
pupils of Carracci was DOMENICO ZAMPIERI, commonly called DOMENICHINO
(1581-1641). If we are less enthusiastic about him at the present, it
may still be remembered that Constable particularly admired him, but it
is significant that the four examples in the National Gallery are
numbered 48, 75, 77 and 85--there is no more recent acquisition. He had
great facility, and his compositions--not always original--are treated
with great charm if with no real depth. His most famous picture, the
_Communion of S. Jerome_, now in the Vatican,