In the Florentine and Roman schools the Decadence may be said to have begun with the death of Raphael in 1520. With the exception of the Venetian school, in which art did not languish until after the death of Tintoretto in 1594, painting rapidly degenerated during the second half of the sixteenth century. Paintings were, of course, produced in great profusion in every art centre of Italy, but form and subject were not in true harmony. To a great extent local traditions were abandoned, the earlier types varied, and three distinctive movements developed—the “Mannerists,” the “Eclectics,” and the “Naturalists.” THE “MANNERISTS” Giulio Romano (1492?-1546) was content to imitate the works of Raphael; and Daniele da Volterra (1509-1566) tried, as we have seen in his _David overcoming Goliath_ (No. 1462), to reproduce the swelling muscles of Michelangelo. Baroccio (1526-1612) in his _Circumcision_ (No. 1149), which is signed and dated 1570, and in his _Virgin in Glory, with St. Anthony and St. Lucy_ (No. 1150), sought to reproduce the ineffable grace of Correggio; while others endeavoured to repeat the enigmatic smile, the “greyhound” eye, and the mysterious chiaroscuro of Leonardo da Vinci. Although the “Mannerists” were to be met with in most of the centres of painting in the sixteenth century, they made Rome the centre of their operations. Domenico Feti (1589-1624) is represented in the Louvre by four canvases, _Nero_ (No. 1286), _Life in the Country_ (No. 1287), _Melancholy_ (No. 1288), and _The Guardian Angel_ (No. 1289), the subjects being highly significant. In the _Holy Family_ (No. 1493) by Sassoferrato (1605-1685) are shown the shallowness and empty formalism which produced the fair-haired, blue-eyed, hyper-sentimental _Madonnas_ with which his name is associated. Carlo Dolci is not represented in the Louvre. One of the more estimable artists in the Late Roman school is Carlo Maratta (1625-1713), who may be judged by the unsigned _Portrait of Marie Madeleine Rospigliosi_ (No. 1379) and _His Own Portrait_ (No. 1380). Two paintings of _Fruit_ (Nos. 1254, 1255) stand to the credit of M. A. Cerquozzi (1602-1660), and the art of G. B. Castiglione, of Genoa (1616-1670), is seen in his _Abraham and Melchizedek_ (No. 1250) and _Animals and Utensils_ (No. 1252). THE “ECLECTICS” A revolt against the methods of the “Mannerists” was made by the Carracci when they opened their school of art at Bologna in 1589. These “Eclectics” (“Pickers and Choosers”) advocated a careful study of “the drawing of Rome, the Venetian shadow, the terrific force of Michelangelo’s manner, the natural truth of Titian, the pure and sovereign style of Correggio, the true symmetry of Raphael, the dignity and principle of Tibaldi, the invention of the learned Primaticcio, together with a little of the grace of Parmigianino”! It is not surprising that they in their turn soon sank into mere academic mediocrity.