Guido'S "St. Michael and the Devil."

GUIDO RENI (1575-1642). CHURCH OF THE CAPUCCINI, ROME.

The Church of the Capuchins, built by Cardinal Barberini, in 1624, a brother of Pope Urban VIII., has several very celebrated pictures in it. The first chapel on the right contains Guido's St. Michael trampling on the Devil. The devil is said to be a portrait of Pope Innocent X. the predecessor of Urban VIII., who had displeased Guido by his criticisms. This is considered one of Guido's best works. Forsyth calls it the Catholic Apollo. "Like the Belvedere god," he says, "The Archangel breathes that dignified vengeance which animates without distorting, while the very devil derives importance from his august adversary, and escapes the laugh which his figure usually provokes."

The St. Michael was painted after Guido's return to his native city of Bologna, having spent 20 years in Rome. When he sent his "St. Michael" to the Capuccini, he wrote, "I wish I had the wings of an angel, to have ascended into Paradise, and there to have beholden the forms of those beatified spirits from which I might have copied my Archangel; but not being able to mount so high, it was in vain for me to search for his resemblance here below, so that I was forced to make an introspection into my own mind, and into that idea of beauty which I have formed in my own imagination."