1560-1609

Annibale Carracci

Baroque

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Annibale Carracci was an Italian painter, one of the representatives of Baroque painting. He and his brother Agostino and cousin Ludovico's paintings are in Baroque style. Together, they opposed the artificial stylism that was popular at the time and based their paintings on the greatness and solidity of the Renaissance and sketches of real objects. The three of them were known as the "Carracci Three Brothers." In the fine arts, Carracci was a great admirer of Renaissance masters such as Raphael and Michelangelo, learning their painting techniques and focusing on power and grandeur to create magnificent images and scenes of splendor. He had his own originality in the succession of painting styles, breaking away from the original fresco compositions of the previous masters and ingeniously placing each individual painting within it. His frescoes revived the excellent tradition of monumental European style and became a true academy for European painters of the 17th century.

Early Life

Carracci was born in Bologna on November 3, 1560. In 1570, he began to learn painting from Ludovico and Agostino. He had been to Parma, Venice, and other places and was shocked by the works of Tiziano Vecellio and Antonio Correggio in Parma. In 1583, Carracci returned to Bologna and created the altarpiece Baptism of Christ for the church of Santi Gregorio e Siro in Bologna. His work is extremely varied, ranging from everyday scenes to portraits, mythological paintings, landscapes, and printmaking. Around the same time, the three brothers collaborated to start a school called Accademia degli Incamminati, one of the first art academies in Italy. From 1589 to 1592, the Carracci Three Brothers completed the frescoes of the founding of Rome at Palazzo Magnani in Bologna.

Settled in Rome, and Death

Carracci settled in Rome in 1595, and in 1597 he had one of the most significant jobs – decorating the Palazzo Farnese Gallery, one of his finest masterpieces and one of the foundations of a vibrant and passionate style full of Baroque. The gallery was one of the most magnificent rooms in the palace, adorned with treasures from the Farnese family's famous collection of ancient sculptures and with a view of the Tiber River. Much of the fresco work Carracci created there was based on mythology. The vast frescoes possess strong contrast and emotion, causing a substantial impact on the human senses while pursuing light and elegance, blending Baroque and Classicism. Carracci spent a great deal of his energy on this work but still carried out other works at the same time, including Assumption of the Virgin.

Despite his generous nature, Carracci had a strong tendency to depression, and because of this, he did little work in his later years. The artist died on July 15, 1609, and was buried in the Pantheon in Rome. During his life, he devoted all his energy to his art and left precious footprints. He was also the founder of European classical landscape painting.

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