da Cortona. In 1616 he painted ceiling frescoes of Apollo and the Seasons at Palazzo Verospi in Via del Corso for the cardinal Fabrizio Verospi. In his later years, Albani developed a mutual, though respectful, rivalry with the more successful Guido Reni, who was also heavily patronized by the Aldobrandini, and under whom Albani had worked at the chapel of the Palazzo del Quirinale. Albani's best frescoes are those on mythological subjects. Among the best of his sacred subjects are a St Sebastian and an Assumption of the Virgin, both in the church of San Sebastiano fuori le Mura in Rome. He was among the Italian painters to devote himself to painting cabinet pictures. His mythological subjects include The Sleeping Venus, Diana in the Bath, Danaë Reclining, Galatea on the Sea, and Europa on the Bull. A rare etching, the Death of Dido, is attributed to him. Carlo Cignani, Andrea Sacchi, Francesco Mola, and Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi were among his students. Following the death of his wife he returned to Bologna, where he married a second time and lived until his death. Legacy Albani never acquired the monumentality or tenebrism that was quaking the contemporary world of painters, and is often derided for his lyric, cherubim-filled sweetness, which often has not yet shaken the mannerist elegance. While Albani's thematic would have appealed to Poussin, he lacked the Frenchman's muscular drama. His style sometimes seems to have more in common with the decorative Rococo than with the painting of his own time. Among his pupils were his brother Giovanni Battista Albani, and others including Giacinto Bellini, Girolamo Bonini, Giacinto Campagna, Antonio Catalani, Carlo Cignani, Giovanni Maria Galli, Filippo Menzani, Bartolommeo Morelli, Andrea Sacchi, Andrea Sghizzi, Giovanni Battista Speranza, Antonio Maria del Sole, Emilio Taruffi, and Francesco Vaccaro. Major works See Chronological List of paintings by Francesco Albani Frescoes in Hall of Aeneas -Palazzo Fava, Bologna Frescoes in Oratory of San Colombano - Bologna Frescoes in Hall of Aeneas (1601–1602) - Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Rome Frescoes for San Giacomo degli Spagnoli (1602–1607) - Museo del Prado and in National Art Museum of Catalonia Holy Family with Angels (1608–1610) - MFA, Boston Allegorical canvases of the seasons Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter (1616–1617) - Galleria Borghese, Rome Nativity of the Virgin (1598) - Pinacoteca, Museo Capitolino, Rome Baptism of Christ (c. 1620) - Oil on canvas, 428.5 x 224.5 cm, Pinacoteca Nazionale di