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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:
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A hooded Monk reading a Breviary red chalk on paper 35 x 20 cm (auction house) |
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A kneeling female figure pen and brown ink, on blue paper 22.5 x 13.6 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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A Knife-Grinder black chalk on paper 18 x 20.7 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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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 |
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A Man in a Hat pen and brown ink on paper 8.5 cm diameter (auction house) |
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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 |
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A nude girl standing in profile red chalk on paper 42.7 x 17.1 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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A Peasant pen and brown ink, with brown wash 12.3 x 9.1 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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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 |
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A sailing boat and smaller craft on an estuary pen and brown ink on paper (size not given, auction house) |
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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 |
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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 |
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Anteros Victorious red chalk 22.4 x 16 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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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 |
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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 |
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Adoration of the Shepherds (attributed to Carracci) pen and brown ink, grey and brown wash, on paper 104 x 171 cm Städel Museum, Frankfurt |
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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 |
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A woman, her hands clasped, looking down to the right red chalk on paper 27.7 x 13.4 cm (auction house) |
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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 |
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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 |
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Christ and the Woman of Samaria oil on canvas 170 x 225 cm Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan |
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Deposition, with Saints Claire, Francis, Magdalene and John oil on canvas 373.8 x 239.7 cm Galleria Nazionale di Parma, Italy |
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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 |
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Felicity and Fortune pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk 18.2 x 16.8 cm (auction house) |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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) |
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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 |
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Head of a young man wearing a hat red chalk heightened with white 22 x 18.6 cm (auction house) |
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Head of a Youth oil on canvas, laid down on aluminium 27.6 x 23.6 cm (auction house) |
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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 |
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Hercules and Omphale red and black chalk; outlines partly pricked for transfer 39 x 43.3 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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Landscape pen and brown ink on paper 17.8 x 20.9 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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Landscape with a castle and ruins of a classical portico pen and brown ink on paper (size not given, auction house) |
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Landscape with the Flight into Egypt oil on canvas 122 x 230 cm Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome |
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Latona and the Shepherds of Lycia oil on canvas 90.6 x 78 cm Kromeriz Archdiocesan Museum, Czech Republic |
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Madonna and Child with St John oil on wood panel 26 x 20.6 cm Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
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Mary Magdalene and Two Angels oil on canvas mounted on panel 37.5 x 29.5 cm © Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid |
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Paris receiving the Golden Apple from Mercury etching (size not given) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia |
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Penitent Magdalene oil on canvas (size not given) Galleria Pamphilj, Roma |
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Penitent Magdalene (version 2) oil on canvas (size not given) |
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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 |