Works of Annibale Carracci

Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) - the famous painter from Bologna, who became the reformer of Italian fine art. Together with his brothers Agostino and Lodoviko founded a school of painting. He adhered to the traditions of antiquity and the Renaissance in his paintings, was engaged in fresco paintings, drawings and engravings.

annibale carracci

The beginning of creative activity

Biography Annibale Carracci ( Annibale Carracci ) originates in Bologna, where he was born in 1560 in the family of a craftsman. Growing up and taking an example from his two brothers, Annibale decided to devote his life to art: from his cousin Lodoviko, he studied painting, from the older Agostino - engraving.

He spent his young years traveling in Venice, Florence and Parma, while simultaneously learning various painting techniques, studying the works of Correggio, Titian, Raphael and Michelangelo.

Returning to Bologna in 1582, together with the Carracci brothers, he founded the “Academy of the True Path”, which was engaged in teaching students and creating painting works. Pupils in this private workshop studied, as was customary in Italian painting schools, copying the works of old masters, also wrote from nature. Competitions were held between them, where it was necessary to answer the questions of teachers with their drawings, being able to defend their work in front of others.

annibale carracci paintings

Participating in common projects, each of the brothers continued to engage in personal work, often they arranged a competition in the number of orders completed in a month. Among the “Carracci trio”, Annibale’s works turned out to be the most talented and distinctive, already in his first works innovative methods were revealed that contradicted outdated painting doctrines. He managed to fulfill orders not only from the residents of Bologna, but also from other Italian cities.

The first major works

The Bologna period of the artist’s life (1582-1594) is characterized by the creation of paintings of mythological subjects, landscapes, portraits and altar images.

In 1584, the painting of the three halls of the Fava Palace in Bologna was completed - a lot of work on which the brothers worked for almost two years. This cycle of frescoes, executed in a single plastic key, represents scenes from myths: the adventures of Jason, the history of Aeneas, the abduction of Europe.

Annibale Carracci Artworks

One of the important works during this period is Annibale Carracci's painting “Dead Christ” (1582), in which the young artist shows mastery of the brush and perspective, the ability to express feelings using very small means. The artist will return to the theme of lamenting Christ in later paintings.

annibale carracci dead christ

Portraits and self-portraits

Among the works of Annibale Carracci, a large part is occupied by his self-portraits. The artist painted himself with enthusiasm, expecting that his descendants would be able to see the entire evolution of his life path, not only in appearance, but also in emotional changes.

The most famous of them are “Self-portrait Annibale Carracci with Antonio’s nephew” and “Self-portrait on a palette” (1590s), etc.

annibale carracci biography

The artist always performed portraits in an informal tone, portraying ordinary people in a typical setting of that time. Moreover, in his manner there was always something non-standard, which allowed to truthfully convey the character of a person, noting his rudeness or inferiority, without bringing him closer to ideal.

The grotesque portraits of “The Bean Eater” and “The Boy with the Monkey” written in the early 1580s are interesting, in which the artist truthfully reveals the nature of a person with some degree of humor.

annibale carracci painting

Caricature art

The vivid picture “Butcher's Shop” (1582) by A. Carracci among specialists is considered the first genre painting, an attempt to interpret the everyday situation with the help of monumental art. It was written in the “market sketches” style that was popular in Northern Italy in those years, in which the artist emphasizes the dependence of a person’s character on the social environment and profession. The rough real world and the common type of shop workers do not cause negative feelings, but convey the characters of people.

annibale carracci

In the paintings of Annibale Carracci and his brother Agostino, caricature painting methods were first used, when the character was presented to the viewer along with his shortcomings, which were specially enlarged to create a funny effect. At the beginning of his activity, Annibale devoted much time in his works to physiognomic studies, trying to introduce comic elements into them.

The caricatures are attributed to A. Carracci, who allegedly created and kept in the British Museum a caricature sheet (1595), which depicts male and female faces in a grotesque form.

Frescoes in the Farnese Gallery

One of the most famous paintings by Annibale Carracci, highly praised by professionals, is the frescoes of the Palazzo Farnese Gallery in Rome, where the brothers were invited by the cardinal in 1595. First, Annibale received an order to paint a study in the palace, and then, together with someone who came to Rome Agostino, he also works on the ceremonial interiors of the palace. The implementation of this project took almost eight years of life.

annibale carracci self portrait

Using the theme of the triumph of love as a program proposal, Annibale painted the box vault, walls and lunettes. The composition of the frescoes on mythological subjects inspired by the “Metamorphoses” of the ancient Roman poet Ovid is compiled meaningfully and variably, for which he is deservedly considered the most successful and most significant work of the artist. “The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne”, “Jupiter and Juno” - these works brought Annibale Carracci world fame, became an example of creating decorative ensembles for artists of the XVII-XVIII centuries.

The frescoes were made using stucco elements and figures of Atlantes and youths supporting the details. Plots and unusual elements resemble the brilliant creations of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

annibale carracci

However, the artist received a small payment for his work, and, considering himself offended by the customer, he leaves for his homeland in Bologna.

Engravings and drawings

In addition to painting large-scale frescoes and paintings of mythological and allegorical themes, Annibale Carracci showed his talent in creating prints. He chose themes from antique and biblical subjects, guided by his own taste, in his free time he was engaged in painting landscapes.

In addition to engravings, he paid attention to drawing, as well as fulfilling various orders. For the aristocrats of Rome, he writes secular paintings of various formats, performs altar images for city cathedrals.

annibale carracci

Murals of the Cathedral and Aldobrandini Chapel

In 1600, at the invitation of T. Cherazi, two brilliant artists - Caravaggio and Carracci were invited to work on the murals of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Popolo. All works are dedicated to the Virgin and St. Peter and Paul. Annibale was a non-religious person, so he tried to place scenes and characters in a pleasant landscape, which the church representatives did not like very much, as a result of which Carracci refused further work and entrusted her to the students.

The last major order, which remained incomplete, was the work on the six lunettes of the Aldobrandini Chapel. The artist painted only two paintings, “Burial of Christ” (1595) and “Flight into Egypt” (1602). In his works, he tried to reproduce the universal picture of the world, painting pictures of ideal nature, against which the figures of saints, a boatman or a shepherd, a grazing herd, sound chamberly. Such a comparison of the world and specific people gives rise to a sense of the idyllic flow of life, as a result of which experts consider him the creator of a classic image of nature.

annibale carracci

By the order of the cardinal’s family, the work “Pieta Farnese” (1600) was created, in which Carracci turned to the traditional iconographic scheme, having also managed to convey true feelings in it: the grief of Mary over the body of Christ.

last years of life

Since 1603, Annibale Carracci has been experiencing several periods of depression, feeling unnecessary and forgotten, he is tormented by rheumatic pains that prevent him from doing what he loves.

Trying to stay away from Rome, the artist moved to Naples in 1609. In one of the trips, when trying to cross the Pontic swamps, he is overtaken by a disease. The talented painter died all alone, before he reached the age of 50.

After his death, through the efforts of his students, the remains of the artist were buried in the Pantheon next to the brilliant maestro Rafael, which Carracci dreamed of during his lifetime.

In his work, Annibale sought to achieve a harmony of reality in combination with classical examples of painting. Modern scholars consider him a brilliant artist who is at the origins of the birth of classicism.


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