Five numbered scenes, each after a painter in the Accademia Degl'Incamminati, from IL FUNERALE D'AGOSTINO CARRACCIO FATTO IN BOLOGNA SUA PATRIA DAGL'INCAMINATI Academici del Disegno: 1. Painting and Poetry mourning the death of Agostino Carracci, painted by Francesco Brizio; 2. Painting with a lyre and Apollo pointing to stars on Carracci's grave, design by Giacomo Cavedone; 3. The head of Christ, painted by Agostino Carracci; 4. Prometheus with a torch and Athena behind him, painted by Alessandro Albini; 5. Aurora abducting Cephalus, painted by Leonello Spada. 1603

This is Guido Reni's "Five numbered scenes," made with etching on paper. The composition of the piece is structured around a grid of five distinct scenes. The lines are crisp, and the figures are rendered with a classicist sensibility. Each scene, contained within its frame, presents a mythological or allegorical vignette, evoking a sense of depth and texture through the hatching and cross-hatching. Consider the central scene, with the head of Christ against a gridded background. The grid imposes a structure of rationalism onto the divine, prompting a dialogue between faith and reason. This juxtaposition reflects a broader intellectual tension from the period where sacred and secular thought often found themselves in complex relation. The surrounding scenes, each with its distinct narrative, contribute to a polysemous reading. The work invites a broader cultural interpretation, where each image is both a contained narrative and a fragment of a larger discourse on art, mourning, and representation.