Monday 20 March 2023

Annibale Carracci - part 3

1603-04 Self-Portrait at the Easel
oil on wood panel 42.5 x 30 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

"Neither clean nor well-dressed, with his collar askew, his hat jammed on any old way and his unkempt beard, Annibale Carracci seemed to be like an ancient philosopher, absent-minded and alone," wrote an early biographer. A tailor's son, Carracci considered himself a craftsman, not a courtier, but the Romans buried him in the Pantheon beside Raphael.

Along with his older brother Agostino and his cousin Lodovico, Annibale founded the Accademia degli Incamminati (Academy of the Progressives) in Bologna, which focused on naturalism and rejected Mannerism. There they revived the practice of working from life, focusing on the craft of art rather than the elegant life of court painters. The Carracci were tireless observers. Scholars credit Annibale with teaching caricature and helping to revive the process of creating extensive preparatory drawings for paintings.

Between 1597 and 1601, Carracci worked on the gallery ceiling of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, his most important legacy. Conceiving the ceiling as open to the sky, he painted its mythological love scenes as framed easel pictures within an illusionistic framework. After receiving a paltry five hundred lire for this extensive decoration, he suffered a breakdown. A prolific draftsman, Carracci derived his heroic figure style from antique sculpture and Michelangelo and Raphael's art, but he added a richness and buoyancy from his copious studies from life. He originated the "ideal landscape," with figures, buildings, and nature in perfect balance, a nature tamed and ennobled by man's presence.

J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles


This is part 3 of a 6-part series on the works of Annibale Carracci:


before 1593 Madonna and Child (After Agostino Carracci)
etching and engraving 15.3 x 11 cm (plate)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA

1593 Crawling Male Figure (Study for Cacus)
charcoal or soft black chalk, highlighted with traces of white chalk, on blue-grey paper 38.5 x 49.9 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1593 The Resurrection of Christ
oil on canvas 216 x 160 cm
Louvre, Paris

1593-94 The Virgin and Child in the Clouds
 (Madonna of Bologna)
oil on canvas 150.5 x 109.5 cm
Christ Church, University of Oxford, UK

c1596 The Mocking of Christ
oil on canvas 60 x 69.5 cm
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Italy

1597 Christ of Caprarola
etching, with engraving and drypoint, on ivory laid paper
12.4 x 16 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1597-98 Christ in Glory
oil on canvas 194 x 142 cm
Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy

1597-1600 Marsyas and Olympus
oil on wood panel 34.4 x 84.2 cm
The National Gallery, London

1597-1600 Silenus gathering Grapes
oil and egg on wood panel 54.5 x 88.5 cm
The National Gallery, London

1597-1600 The Drunken Silenus ("The Tazza Farnese")
engraving 26.3 diameter
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA

1597-1600 Young Satyr gathering Grapes
oil and egg on wood panel 54.5 x 88.5 cm
The National Gallery, London

c1597-1600 Satyr Holding a Roundel
black chalk on grey-blue paper 38.3 x 25.9 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

c1597-1600 The Drunken Silenus (Tazza Farnese)
engraving printed from shallow silver cup 25.3 cm diameter
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1597-1602 Pan and Diana
fresco
Galleria Farnese, Palazzo Farnese, Rome

c1597-1602 Triton Sounding a Conch Shell
charcoal or soft black chalk on blue-grey paper 38.8 x 24.3 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

c1597 The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne
fresco
Palazzo Farnese, Rome (see below)

c1597 The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne
fresco
Palazzo Farnese, Rome

1598-99 Study for an Ignudo
black chalk heightened with white on faded blue paper
37.7 x 32.5 cm (sheet)
 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia)

c1598-1600 Christ Crowned with Thorns
details not given
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna

c1598 Christ appearing to Saint Anthony Abbot during his Temptation
oil on copper 49.5 x 34.4 cm
The National Gallery, London

1599-1600 Pietà
oil on canvas 156 x 149 cm
Museo di Capodimonte, Naples

1599-1600 The Drunken SiIenus: Design for the "Tazza Farnese"
pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of black chalk 25.6 x 25.5 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1599-1600 The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
oil on (canvas?) 12 cm Diameter
© Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

c1599-1600 The Madonna and Sleeping Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
black chalk, pen and brown ink 12.7 x 16.8 cm
(see below)

c1599-1600 The Madonna and Sleeping Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
oil on canvas 51.2 x 68.4 cm
Hampton Court Palace, London

1599-1601 Drunken Silenus and Decorative Sketches
pen and iron gall ink, with brush and brown wash on cream laid paper 28.4 x 17.7 cm overall
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1599-1601 Two Putti Fighting
pen and iron gall ink on cream laid paper with decorative border in pen and brown ink 28.4 x 17.7 cm overall
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1599-1604 Study of a Male Nude
chalk on paper 22.5 x 38 cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

c1599 Mary Magdalene in a Landscape
oil on copper (size not given)
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK

before 1600 Angel
wash on paper 21.9 x 13 cm Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, MA
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

before 1600 Madonna
wash on paper 21.9 x 13 cm Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, MA
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

after1600 Hercules and Iole
graphite, with brush and grey wash, on ivory laid paper
27.5 x 22.6 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

after 1600 Satyr and Goat
red chalk on cream laid paper 17.5 x 18 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

c1600 Pietà
oil on canvas 156 x 149 cm
National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy

c1600 Saint John the Baptist bearing Witness
oil on copper 54.3 x 43.5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

c1600 Study of Triton blowing a Conch Shell
black and white chalk on paper 40.6 x 24.1 cm
J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA

c1600 The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
('The Montalto Madonna')
oil on copper 35 x 27.5 cm
The National Gallery, London

c1600 The Holy Women at Christ’s Tomb
oil on canvas 121 x 145.5 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

1600-02 Study for an Angel
charcoal or soft black chalk, highlighted with white chalk, on blue paper 36.9 x 24.8 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York


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