I would like you to do me the favour of sending me one of those young men, and to do so as soon as possible, and in case you do not have any mounts, I will write to Giovanni Battista to find one
to publicly endorse the identification can be explained as a desire on his part to avoid a direct participation in a case that had become so divisive and quarrelsome.35 Another indication of his personal involvement is that, upon hearing of Casali’s return, Guido had sent 25 scudi to Rome, in order to help him to pay for his trip back to Bologna, a donation that was taken as a key evidence of the artist’s own belief about the claimant’s identity.36 Such a gift also marks a typical tract of Guido’s liberality that is underlined by his biographers. Carlo Cesare Malvasia stressed that Guido was always willing to assist indigent people, providing poor unmarried women with dowries, sponsoring children at baptism, and sustaining people in need with charitable donations, which he was not able to keep secret, for it was known to everybody, the amount being calculated on the basis of the religious men and other third parties whom he employed (so as not to be found out) to deliver money’.37 Guido’s interest in the case was primarily due to his old friendship with Andrea Casali, whom he had known in his youth. According to the claimant’s statement, Guido had taught the rudiments of his art to the young Andrea, who learned painting as part of his education: Yes Sir’, he said, I attended painting classes, but now I know nothing anymore; I attended painting with Guido Reni for (if I remember correctly) two or three years, but I never exercised myself with the brushes, nor did I paint anything in colours, but only practiced with the pencil’.38 This statement seems to suggest that Guido Reni may have held drawing schools open to young noblemen or, alternatively, that he may have taught painting in a context of private gatherings of literati and virtuosi, a role that complies with the frequent episodes in Malvasia in which the artist is mentioned in connection to local academies and learned meetings in Bologna.39 This reference ily in the arts. Even though the Casali are not traditionally recorded as major collectors in Bologna, there is some evidence that they did indeed own a collection of paintings, which also included – according to Francesco Cavazzoni – a work by Raphael.40 In addition to that, Ferrante Casali, the claimant’s opponent, is also remembered for his friendship with the Carracci, to whom he granted in 1620 the right to place a memorial slab on his family chapel in San Domenico in Bologna commemorating Ludovico Carracci, pittore famosissimo ed amicissimo dei Casali’.41 Finally, the friendship between Guido and Andrea is also confirmed by another relevant piece of information that was included in the proceedings as proof of the latter’s handwriting. Guido Reni, Virgin and Child Appearing to Saint Dominic, with the Mysteries of the Rosary, 1600. Bologna, Santuario della Madonna di San Luca.
I humbly kiss the hands of sir Aldo Gandino, and yours as well, and I recommend myself to all of you
Guido (dated to an unspecified month of 1600) shows that the young nobleman was instrumental in soliciting the artist to complete an altarpiece for the nuns of Santa Lucia in Bologna: To the very excellent and most respected, my Lord Guido Reni painter in Bologna, very excellent as a brother. The mother superior, having been asked by sister Aurelia delli Orsi to urge your excellency to complete or, to better say, to start the altarpiece of the Rosary for sister Vincenza of the convent [of Santa Lucia], has tasked me with this duty, hoping that, for the friendship that there is between me and you, she will be easily served, and in doing so either of us will remain obliged, and will have from those mothers as many prayers as we will give thanks. I would be greatly pleased if sir Francesco could come. From Monte Vecchio, 19 of the month, 1600 Yours as a brother and servant. 42 The letter is related to one of the first, most acclaimed achievements of the artist, the Virgin and Child Appearing to Saint Dominic, with the Mysteries of the Rosary, an altarpiece executed for the Madonna di San Luca, a Marian sanctuary not far from the centre of Bologna FIGURE 3.43 This missive is indicative of the close association and camaraderie between the two men – significantly emphasized by the repeated webpage use of the word brother’ – and bears witness to the possible role of Andrea Casali in promoting Guido’s early career in Bologna before the latter’s trip to Rome in Against this backdrop, it comes as little surprise that Guido Reni felt personally committed to the case, and that he tried to the best of his abilities – but not from a legal point of view – to support the claimant and his contentions with the court of Rome.