Guido Reni (1575 - 1642) was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style and popular religious works and critically acclaimed mythological scenes. He was a quintessentially classical academic but he was also one of the most elegant painters in the annals of art history. He was constantly seeking an absolute, rarefied perfection which he measured against classical Antiquity and Raphael. Because of this, over the years the Bolognese painter has been in and out of fashion, depending on the tastes of the times. He was very popular in eighteenth century, bit in the nineteenth century the violent criticism of John Ruskin broke down his reputation. However even his enemies cannot deny the exceptional technical quality of his work nor the clarity of his supremely assured and harmonious brushwork.