Annibale Carracci - part 5

Portrait of the artist, aged 49
engraving 26.9 x 17 cm (sheet)

"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 5 of a 6-part series on the works of Annibale Carracci.

Note: The remainder of works in this series are not dated but are all before 1609:

A hooded Monk reading a Breviary
red chalk on paper 35 x 20 cm
(auction house)

A kneeling female figure
pen and brown ink, on blue paper 22.5 x 13.6 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

A Knife-Grinder
black chalk on paper 18 x 20.7 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

A Lupercalian Festival
pen and brown ink and brown wash, heightened with white, on light-brown prepared paper 31.8 x 26.4 cm
 © The Trustees of the British Museum, London

A Man in a Hat
pen and brown ink on paper 8.5 cm diameter
(auction house)

A nude boy asleep in bed (attributed to Carracci)
red chalk on paper 17.5 x 26.3 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

A nude girl standing in profile
red chalk on paper 42.7 x 17.1 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

A Peasant
pen and brown ink, with brown wash 12.3 x 9.1 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

A putto defecating on an altar and a caricature of a man in profile
pen and brown ink on paper 17.6 x 16.5 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

A sailing boat and smaller craft on an estuary
pen and brown ink on paper
(size not given, auction house)

Battling Centaurs
pen and brown ink, with brown-grey wash, over graphite
13.7 x 25.9 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Back View of a Seated Nude Youth
red chalk, with traces of highlights in white chalk (?)
 31.4 x 22.8 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Anteros Victorious
red chalk 22.4 x 16 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

An angel playing the violin, study for a painting
red chalk on paper 16.4 x 20 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

An angel giving two garlands to St Cecilia and St Valerian
pen and brown ink on paper 28.1 x 20.2 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Adoration of the Shepherds (attributed to Carracci)
pen and brown ink, grey and brown wash, on paper 104 x 171 cm
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

A young painter, seen from behind
black and red chalk on paper 37.8 x 18.8 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

A woman, her hands clasped, looking down to the right
red chalk on paper  27.7 x 13.4 cm
(auction house)

A series of caricature heads in profile
pen and grey-brown ink on paper19.4 x 13.5 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

A seated Bacchus
pen and brown ink, with brown wash, over red chalk 11.4 x 7.6 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Christ and the Woman of Samaria
oil on canvas 170 x 225 cm
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Deposition, with Saints Claire, Francis, Magdalene and John
oil on canvas 373.8 x 239.7 cm
Galleria Nazionale di Parma, Italy

Drunken Silenus, a satyr and another figure surrounded by a circular garland
(medium) 28.6 x 27.5 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Felicity and Fortune
pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk 18.2 x 16.8 cm
(auction house)

Five standing Saints
pen and brown ink, with grey-brown wash, over black chalk 19.3 x 13.3 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Half-length figure of a youth to left
red chalk on paper 24.2 x 27.4 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Head of a dog in profile
black chalk on blue-grey paper 21.3 x 27.2 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Head of a girl looking down to the right, her hair held in a plait
oil on paper laid down on panel 24.5 x 18.5 cm
(auction house)

Head of a woman looking up to left
red chalk, on light grey-brown prepared paper 12.9 x 9.2 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Head of a young man wearing a hat
red chalk heightened with white 22 x 18.6 cm
(auction house)

Head of a Youth
oil on canvas, laid down on aluminium 27.6 x 23.6 cm
(auction house)

Head of a Youth
red and white chalk on tan antique laid paper 32.6 x 24.3 cm
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, MA Photo
© President and Fellows of Harvard College

Hercules and Omphale
red and black chalk; outlines partly pricked for transfer
39 x 43.3 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape
 pen and brown ink on paper 17.8 x 20.9 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Landscape with a castle and ruins of a classical portico
pen and brown ink on paper
(size not given, auction house)

Landscape with the Flight into Egypt
oil on canvas 122 x 230 cm
Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome

Latona and the Shepherds of Lycia
oil on canvas 90.6 x 78 cm
Kromeriz Archdiocesan Museum, Czech Republic

Madonna and Child with St John
oil on wood panel 26 x 20.6 cm
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London

Mary Magdalene and Two Angels
oil on canvas mounted on panel 37.5 x 29.5 cm
© Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Paris receiving the Golden Apple from Mercury
etching (size not given)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Penitent Magdalene
oil on canvas (size not given)
Galleria Pamphilj, Roma

Penitent Magdalene (version 2)
oil on canvas (size not given)

Perseus beheading Medusa
pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over black chalk or charcoal 12.8 x 24 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York