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Carlo Saraceni (1579 – 16 June 1620) was an Italian early-
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
painter, whose reputation as a "first-class painter of the second rank" was improved with the publication of a modern monograph in 1968.


Life

Though he was born and died in
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 ...
, his paintings are distinctly Roman in style; he moved to Rome in 1598, joining the Accademia di San Luca in 1607. He never visited France, though he spoke fluent French and had French followers and a French wardrobe. His painting, however, was influenced at first by the densely forested, luxuriantly enveloping landscape settings for human figures of
Adam Elsheimer __NOTOC__ Adam Elsheimer (18 March 1578 – 11 December 1610) was a German artist working in Rome, who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century in the field of Baroque paintings. His relatively few painti ...
, a German painter resident in Rome; "there are few landscapes by Saraceni which have not been attributed to Elsheimer," Malcolm Waddingham observed, and Anna Ottani Cavina has suggested the influences may have travelled both ways. and Elsheimer's small cabinet paintings on copper offered a format that Saraceni employed in six landscape panels illustrating ''The Flight of Icarus''; in ''Moses and the Daughters of Jethro,'' and ''Mars and Venus''. When Caravaggio's notorious ''Death of the Virgin'' was rejected in 1606 as an altarpiece suitable for a chapel of
Santa Maria della Scala Santa Maria della Scala (English: Mary of the Staircase) is a titular church in Rome, Italy, located in the Trastevere rione. Cardinal Ernest Simoni took possession of the titular church on 11 February 2017. Santa Maria della Scala is a titu ...
, it was Saraceni who provided the acceptable substitute, which remains ''in situ'', the only securely dated painting of his first decade in Rome. He was influenced by
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
's dramatic lighting, monumental figures, naturalistic detail, and momentary action, so that he is numbered among the first of the " tenebrists" or " Caravaggisti". Examples of this style can be seen in the candlelit '' Judith with the Head of Holofernes''. Saraceni's style matured rapidly between 1606 and 1610, and the next decade gave way to his fully mature works, synthesizing Caravaggio and the Venetians. In 1616–17 he collaborated on the frescoes for the ''Sala Regia'' of the
Palazzo del Quirinale The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporzia ...
. In 1618 he received payment for two paintings in the church of Santa Maria dell'Anima. The compositional details of his fresco of ''The Birth of the Virgin'' in the Chapel of the Annunciation of the church of Santa Maria in Aquiro are repeated in a panel on copper at the Louvre. In 1620 he returned to Venice, where he died in the same year.


Works

* ''Mars and Venus'' (1605–1610),
oil on copper Oil on copper painting is the process of creating artworks by using oil paints with copper as the substrate. This is sometimes referred to as “copper as canvas” because canvas is the most well known surface material used for oil paintings. ...
(
São Paulo Museum of Art The São Paulo Museum of Art ( pt, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, or ') is an art museum located on Paulista Avenue in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It is well known for its headquarters, a 1968 concrete and glass structure designed by Lina Bo B ...
, São Paulo) * ''Rest on the Flight into Egypt'', 1606 (Eremo dei Camaldoli, Frascati) * ''The Fall of Icarus'' (Museums and Art Galleries Naples, Museo e Gallerie Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples) * ''Madonna and Child with Saint Anne'', painted for the Church of San Simeone Profeta, 1610 ( Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome) * ''Papal Authority'', chalk preparatory sketch for an allegorical fresco (
J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...
) * ''Vision of Saint Francis'' (1615),
Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pina ...
, Munich * ''Saint Cecilia and the Angel'', c. 1610 (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome), attributed to Saraceni * ''The Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia'' ( LACMA) * ''The Madonna and Child with Saint Anne and an Angel'' oil on copper (c. 1608–1610), Honolulu Museum of Art. * ''Nativity'' (
Residenzgalerie The Residenzgalerie is an art gallery in the Alte Residenz, Salzburg, Austria. Its collection includes works by Rembrandt, Carel Fabritius, Carlo Saraceni and Hieronymus Francken II. History The state-owned Residenzgalerie provides a cross-sec ...
, Salzburg) * ''Carlo Borromeo Tending to Those Afflicted with Plague'' ( Church of the Servi in
Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and '' comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...
) Work by Saraceni can also be seen in the Roman church of San Lorenzo in Lucina.


Gallery

File:Saraceni, Carlo - The Madonna and Child with Saint Anne and an Angle, oil on copper, c. 1608-1610.jpg, ''The Madonna and Child with Saint Anne and an Angel'', oil on copper, c. 1608–1610, Honolulu Museum of Art File:Saraceni - Vision of St Francis.jpg, ''The Vision of St Francis'' (circa 1615) File:Saraceni - martevenus02(large).jpg, ''Mars and Venus, with a Circle of Cupids and a Landscape'', oil on copper, 1605–1610,
São Paulo Museum of Art The São Paulo Museum of Art ( pt, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, or ') is an art museum located on Paulista Avenue in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It is well known for its headquarters, a 1968 concrete and glass structure designed by Lina Bo B ...
File:Carlo Saraceni 001.jpg, ''Judith and the head of Holofernes'', Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna File:SaraceniSebastian.jpg, ''Saint Sebastian'', c. 1610–1616, Picture Gallery of the
Prague Castle Prague Castle ( cs, Pražský hrad; ) is a castle complex in Prague 1 Municipality within Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 9th century. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for kin ...
File:Gregorythegreat.jpg, ''Gregory the Great'', attributed to the studio of Saraceni, c. 1610, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome


References

*Charles Dempsey, Keith Christiansen, Richard E. Spear, and Erich Scheier. 1985. ''The Age of Caravaggio''. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)


External links


Web Gallery of Art: Carlo Saraceni
*
Jusepe de Ribera, 1591-1652
', a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which includes material on Carlo Saraceni (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Saraceni, Carlo 1579 births 1620 deaths Painters from Venice 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Italian Baroque painters Caravaggisti Catholic painters