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Fig. 6. The Assumption of the Virgin, Stuttgart, Fig. 7. Reni, Sts. Cecilia and Valerian, Rome, Basilica of SS. Cecilia in
Städelsches Kunstinstitut. Trastevere.

treatment of landscape, of the trees and above all the ‘boneless’ limbs of the figures, the features of the Virgin
and Child, the profile of the angel and, of course, the palette. The small copper from the Coombs Collection
has been dated as executed during Guido’s time in Rome, c.1604-1606. Comparison with The Assumption,
another copper, recently acquired by the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, again shows similarities in both facial type
and the naturalistic postures (Fig. 6). This latter painting has been dated c.1598. The Country Dance, however,
appears more evolved than the Städel picture and the composition is altogether more ambitious, the postures
more varied and the impasto of the brushwork a little more accentuated. Thus it would seem probable that The
Country Dance postdates the Städel picture and predates the period when Reni was also working for Cardinal
Sfondrato, that is, c.1602-1606. A close comparison may also be made with Reni’s Saints Cecilia and Valerian
which is dated 1601 (Fig. 7).

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