PALEOTTI, ARCHBISHOP GABRIELE

(1522-1597)

A key player in theCouncil of Trent, Gabriele Paleotti kept a diary during the council meetings, one of the great historic documents of the period. In 1565, he was granted the cardinalate and, in 1567, he was appointed archbishop ofBologna. In that capacity, he immediately set out to introduce the reforms enacted by the Council of Trent to his archdiocese, including the proper representation of religious subjects in art. His treatise, theDiscorso intorno alle imagini sacre eprofane(1582), became the catalyst for the Bolognese art reform. It criticized the ambiguities ofManneristpaintings and called instead for clarity of representation and works that appealed to the emotions of the faithful. The first to fulfill Paleotti's demands were theCarracciwho, by following the archbishop's prescriptions, ushered in theclassicist Baroquemode of painting.