The original aims of the Eclectics are well summed up in a sonnet by Agostino Carracci, which has been translated as follows:  “Let him who wishes to be a good painter acquire the design of Rome, Venetian action and Venetian management of shade, the dignified color of Lombardy—­that is of Leonardo da Vinci—­the terrible manner of Michael Angelo, Titian’s truth and nature, the sovereign purity of Correggio’s style and the just symmetry of a Raphael, the decorum and well-grounded study of Tibaldi, the invention of the learned Primaticcio, and a little of Parmigianino’s grace; but without so much study and weary labor let him apply himself to imitate the works which our Niccolo—­dell Abbate—­left us here.”  Kugler calls this “a patchwork ideal,” which puts the matter in a nut-shell.

At one period the Eclectics produced harmonious pictures in a manner attractive to women, many of whom studied under Domenichino, Giovanni Lanfranco, Guido Reni, the Campi, and others.  Sofonisba Anguisciola, Elisabetta Sirani, and the numerous women artists of Bologna were of this school.

The greatest excellence of this art was of short duration; it declined as did the literature, and indeed, the sacred and political institutions of Italy in the seventeenth century.  It should not, however, be forgotten, that the best works of Guercino, the later pictures of Annibale Carracci, and the important works of Domenichino and Salvator Rosa belong to this period.

The second school was that of the Naturalists, who professed to study Nature alone, representing with brutal realism her repulsive aspects.  Naples was the centre of these painters, and the poisoning of Domenichino and many other dark and terrible deeds have been attributed to them.  Few women were attracted to this school, and the only one whose association with the Naturalisti is recorded—­Aniella di Rosa—­paid for her temerity with her life.

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In Rome, Florence, Bologna, Venice, and other Italian cities, there were, in the seventeenth century, many women who made enviable reputations as artists, some of whom were also known for their literary and musical attainments.  Anna Maria Ardoina, of Messina, made her studies in Rome.  She was gifted as a poet and artist, and so excelled in music that she had the distinguished honor of being elected to the Academy of Arcadia.

Not a few gifted women of this time are remembered for their noble charities.  Chiara Varotari, under the instruction of her father and her brother, called Padovanino, became a good painter.  She was also honored as a skilful nurse, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany placed her portrait in his gallery on account of his admiration and respect for her as a comforter of the suffering.

Giovanna Garzoni, a miniaturist, conferred such benefits upon the Academy of St. Luke that a monument was there erected to her memory.  Other artists founded convents, became nuns, and imprinted themselves upon their age in connection with various honorable institutions and occupations.