Agostino Carracci (or Caracci) (16 August 1557 – 22 March 1602) was an Italian
painter,
printmaker, tapestry designer, and art teacher. He was, together with his brother,
Annibale Carracci, and cousin,
Ludovico Carracci
Ludovico (or Lodovico) Carracci (21 April 1555 – 13 November 1619) was an Italian, early-Baroque painter, etcher, and printmaker born in Bologna. His works are characterized by a strong mood invoked by broad gestures and flickering light th ...
, one of the founders of the
Accademia degli Incamminati
The Accademia degli Incamminati (Italian for "Academy of Those who are Making Progress" or "Academy of the Journeying") was one of the first art academies in Italy, founded in 1582 in Bologna.
It was founded as the Accademia dei Desiderosi ("Acad ...
(Academy of the Progressives) in Bologna. This teaching academy promoted the Carracci emphasized drawing from life. It promoted progressive tendencies in art and was a reaction to the Mannerist distortion of anatomy and space.
[Agostino Carracci]
at Getty The academy helped propel painters of the
School of Bologna to prominence.
Life
Agostino Carracci was born in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
as the son of a tailor. He was the elder brother of Annibale Carracci and the cousin of Ludovico Carracci. He initially trained as a goldsmith. He later studied painting, first with
Prospero Fontana
Prospero Fontana (1512–1597) was a Bolognese painter of late Renaissance and Mannerist art. He is perhaps best known for his frescoes and architectural detailing. The speed in which he completed paintings earned him commissions where he wor ...
, who had been Lodovico's master, and later with
Bartolomeo Passarotti
Bartolomeo Passarotti or Passerotti (1529–1592) was an Italian painter of the mannerist period, who worked mainly in his native Bologna. His family name is also spelled Passerotti or Passarotto.
Life and work
From approximately 1550 to 1555, h ...
. He traveled to Parma to study the works of
Correggio
Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...
. Accompanied by his brother Annibale, he spent a long time in Venice, where he trained as an engraver under the renowned
Cornelis Cort
Cornelis Cort (c. 1533 – c. 17 March 1578) was a Dutch engraver and draughtsman. He spent the last 12 years of his life in Italy, where he was known as ''Cornelio Fiammingo''.
Biography
Born in Hoorn or Edam, Cort may have been a pupil of ...
.
[Carracci]
at the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' Starting from 1574 he worked as a reproductive
engraver, copying works of 16th century masters such as
Federico Barocci
Federico Barocci (also written ''Barozzi'')(c. 1535 in Urbino – 1612 in Urbino) was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed Il Baroccio. His work was highly esteemed and inf ...
,
Tintoretto
Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...
,
Antonio Campi,
Veronese and
Correggio
Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...
. He also produced some original prints, including two
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
s.
He traveled to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
(1582, 1587–1589) and
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
(1586–1587). Together with Annibale and Ludovico he worked in Bologna on the fresco cycles in
Palazzo Fava
Palazzo Fava or Palazzo Fava-Ghisilieri is a historic palace at 2 via Manzoni in Bologna, now housing art exhibitions and the Caffè Letterario Carracci Fava. It is most notable for its three rooms of frescoes of scenes from the lives of Jason, Me ...
(
''Histories of Jason and Medea'', 1584) and
Palazzo Magnani (
''Histories of Romulus'', 1590–1592). In 1592 he also painted the
''Communion of St. Jerome'', now in the
Pinacoteca di Bologna
The National Art Gallery of Bologna (''Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna'') is a museum in Bologna, Italy. It is located in the former Saint Ignatius Jesuit novitiate of the city's University district, and inside the same building that houses the ...
and considered his masterwork. In 1620,
Giovanni Lanfranco, a pupil of the Carracci, famously accused another Carracci student,
Domenichino
Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters.
Life
Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a sho ...
, of
plagiarizing this painting. From 1586 is his altarpiece of the ''Madonna with Child and Saints'', in the National Gallery of
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
. In 1598 Carracci joined his brother Annibale in Rome, to collaborate on the decoration of the Gallery in
Palazzo Farnese
Palazzo Farnese () or Farnese Palace is one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome. Owned by the Italian Republic, it was given to the French government in 1936 for a period of 99 years, and currently serves as the French emb ...
. From 1598 to 1600 is a ''triple Portrait'', now in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, an example of genre painting. In 1600 he was called to Parma by Duke
Ranuccio I Farnese
Ranuccio I Farnese (28 March 1569 – 5 March 1622) reigned as Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1592. A firm believer in absolute monarchy, Ranuccio, in 1594, centralised the administration of Parma and Piacenza, thus rescinding the ...
to begin the decoration of the Palazzo del Giardino, but he died before it was finished. His friend the poet
Claudio Achillini dedicated to him an
epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
after his death, later published by
Carlo Cesare Malvasia
Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1616–1693) was an Italian scholar and art historian from Bologna, best known for his biographies of Baroque artists titled ''Felsina pittrice'', published in 1678.
Life and career
Malvasia is the Bolognese equivalen ...
in the life of the Carracci.
Agostino's son
Antonio Carracci
Antonio Marziale Carracci (1583 – 8 April 1618) was an Italian painter. He was the natural son of Agostino Carracci.
Life
Carracci was born in the parish of Sta Lucia in Venice, probably in 1583, the product of an affair with a courtesan ...
was also a painter, and attempted to compete with his father's Academy.
An engraving by Agostino Carraci after the painting ''Love in the Golden Age'' by the 16th-century Flemish painter
Paolo Fiammingo was the inspiration for
Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...
's ''
Le bonheur de vivre
''Le bonheur de vivre'' (''The Joy of Life'') is a painting by Henri Matisse. Along with Picasso's ''Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'', ''Le bonheur de vivre'' is regarded as one of the pillars of early modernism. The monumental canvas was first exhib ...
'' (Joy of Life).
Works
''Oil on canvas unless otherwise noted''
* 1573 – ''Pietà'' (
Muscarelle Museum of Art
The Muscarelle Museum of Art is a university museum affiliated with the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. While the Museum only dates to 1983, the university art collection has been in existence since its first gift – a por ...
,
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is ...
)
* 1586 – ''
Madonna and Child with Saints'' (
Galleria nazionale di Parma)
* c.1586 – ''Lamentation'' or ''Pietà'' (Hermitage, St. Petersburg)
* c.1589–1595 – ''Reciprico Amore'' (engraving, Baltimore Museum of Art)
* c.1590 – ''Annunciation'' (Musée du Louvre, Paris
)
* 1590–1595 – ''
Portrait of a Woman as Judith'' (private collection)
* c. 1592–1593 – ''Assumption'' (Ss. Salvatore church, Bologna)
* 1592–1597 – ''
The Last Communion of Saint Jerome'' (
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
The National Art Gallery of Bologna (''Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna'') is a museum in Bologna, Italy. It is located in the former Saint Ignatius Jesuit novitiate of the city's University district, and inside the same building that houses the ...
)
* c.1595 – ''Head of a Faun in a Concave'' (drawing in roundel, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC)
* 1598–1600 – ''
Triple Portrait of Arrigo, Pietro and Amon'' (
National Museum of Capodimonte
Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italia ...
, Naples)
Fresco collaborations with Annibale and Ludovico
*''
Life of Aeneas'' (
Palazzo Fava, Bologna)
*''
Lives of Jason and Medea
Lives may refer to:
* The plural form of a ''life''
* Lives, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran
* The number of lives in a video game
* '' Parallel Lives'', aka ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', a series of biographies of famous m ...
'' (Palazzo Fava, Bologna)
*''
Scenes from the Foundation of Rome
Scene (from Greek σκηνή ''skēnḗ'') may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Scene (subculture), a youth subculture from the early 2000s characterized by a distinct music and style. Groups and performers
* The Scene who recor ...
'' (
Palazzo Magnani, Bologna
Palazzo Magnani is a Renaissance palace located on Via Zamboni number 20 in central Bologna, region of Emilia Romagna, Italy, built by the Magnani noble family with the same name.
Construction on the palace began in 1577 under architect Domenic ...
)
*''
Life of Hercules'' (
Palazzo Sampieri Talon, Bologna)
Undated
* ''The Penitent Magdalen'' (private collection)
*
Carracci's erotic work (prints)
See also
*
The Carracci
The Carracci ( , , ) were a Bolognese family of artists that played an instrumental role in bringing forth the Baroque style in painting. Brothers Annibale (1560–1609) and Agostino (1557–1602) along with their cousin Ludovico (1555–161 ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carracci, Agostino
1557 births
1602 deaths
16th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
17th-century Italian painters
Italian Baroque painters
Painters from Bologna
Italian printmakers
Italian erotic artists
Sibling artists
Catholic painters
Catholic decorative artists