In the following chapter, I consider several examples of non-assimilated eclecticism by the four leading Bolognese painters—Ludovico, Annibale, Reni, and Guercino. These paintings accord with Paleotti's ideas as expressed in his Discorso, revealing these ideas to have been, for the most part, stylistically applicable in practice. The first concern addressed by these painters is the dialectic of the celestial and the terrestrial realms and the distinction between virtue and vice. The second concern involves an emphasis on the distinctive visual characteristics of saints whose likeness is known, and their differentiation from saints about whose visual appearance we know nothing. Paleotti demanded that painters depict saints in this second category as naturally as possible without resembling a living person. Some of the paintings examined below were commented on either by Malvasia or by modern scholars as containing more than one style. In addition, I will examine a number of paintings that have never been considered in this context yet are most revealing in terms of non-assimilated eclecticism.

It is important to note, however, that the use of an eclectic method in the paintings discussed below by no means indicates that all the works produced by painters affiliated with the Bolognese school of painting can be designated as eclectic. Therefore, the last section in this chapter will be devoted to eclectic attitudes discernible in other Bolognese paintings that do not correspond directly to Paleotti's religious ideas.