The Artist Annibale Carracci

ALL ARTISTS

CARRACCI, Annibale, Italian painter born in Bologna, Nov. 3, 1560 and died in Rome, July 15, 1609. He worked first with his father, who was a tailor. By the advice of his cousin, Lodovico Carracci, he learned drawing, and made the most astonishing progress, copying first the pieces of Correggio, Titian and Paul Veronese, and painting, like them, small pictures, before he undertook large ones. In the Bolognese Academy founded by the Carracci he taught the rules of arrangement and distribution of figures.

He was one of the greatest imitators of Coreggio. He excelled in landscapes, many of which may be found in Paris, Leningrad, Madrid, Florence, and especially in the Palazzo Doria Panifili, Rome. His St. Roch Distributing Alms was the first painting which gave him reputation. His Genius of Glory is likewise celebrated. Though arguably his best work is that of The Three Marys. In the Farnesian Gallery at Rome, which he, aided by his brother Agostino, painted (1600 - 1604), there breathes an antique elegance and all the grace of Raphael. You find there imitations of Tibaldi (who painted at Bologna about 1550 with Niccolo dell' Abbate), of Michelangelo (the style, indeed, somewhat softened), and the excellencies of the Venetian and Lombard schools.

Outside of Bologna he is acknowledged as the greatest of the Carracci. In that city, however, Lodovico is more admired. Agostino, perhaps, had more invention, and Lodovico more talent for teaching; but Annibale had a loftier spirit, more spontaneity, naivete and naturalness, and his style is more eloquent and noble. His atelier in Rome was the workshop of many famous artists, among them Il Domenichino and Francesco Albani. He was buried at the side of Raphael in the Pantheon.