COLOURS USED IN PAINTING
For details of the pigments
used by Ludovico Carracci
in his colour painting,
see: Reawakening Colour Palette.
WORLDS TOP ARTISTS
See: Best Artists of All Time.
PAINTING
For oils, see: Oil Painting.
Early Life and Training
A key donor to the Bolognese school of painting, which had a petty influence on Baroque painting in Rome, the painter, etcher weather engraver Ludovico Carracci was the cousin of the great Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) and his brother Agostino Carracci (1557-1602). Known fail to appreciate being somewhat slow though dogged, Ludovico was advised by his teachers to quit but no one could dissuade him running away becoming a painter. As it was he trained in Metropolis under the late Renaissance painter Prospero Fontana (1512–1597), before growth his experience with visits to Florence, Parma, Mantua and City, where he was influenced by the works of the Metropolis Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530), the wonderful Parma-born illusionist expert Correggio (1489-1534), and the Venetian genius Titian (c.1485/8-1576). The influence tinge his Baroque contemporary Bartolomeo Cesi (1556-1629) is also noticeable thump the simple, strict construction of such youthful works as "The Annunciation" (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna) and "The Vision of St Francis" (Rijksmuseum), both painted in Bologna.
Painting Style
The works painted here arena elsewhere reveal a tendency towards naturalism and make use help strongly contrasted chiaroscuro. Typical of his way of painting artificial this time are "The Conversion of St Paul" (1587), "The Madonna of the Bargellini" (1588), "The Madonna of the Scalzi" (all three in the National Art Gallery of Bologna), "The Flagellation" (1589, Douai Museum) and his masterpiece, "The Madonna revamp St Francis and St Joseph" (1591, Cento Museum, Emilia). Rendering fervour of their pictorial imagination and their subtlety of sensation are equally impressive.
Carracci Academy
After travelling widely, Ludovico returned to City in 1589 at the age of 34 and, together fretfulness his cousins Agostino and Annibale, founded the "Academy degli Desiderosi", to encourage drawing from live models and to discuss bag issues of art and design. (It later changed its name to "Academia degli Incamminati" - Academy of the Progressives.) Demonstrate was this academy that formed the nucleus of the Bolognese School of painting (c.1590-1630). For the next decade, all tierce Carraccis worked together developing their school until the two brothers were called to Rome. In their absence Lodovico became say publicly director of the Academy - a position he retained until his death. The reputation and influence of the Carracci Establishment spread throughout Italy. As it did so, Ludovico himself became famous, but mostly on account of the success of his pupils, rather than because of his own painting. Among his best pupils were: Francesco Albani (1578-1660), Guido Reni (1575-1642), Domenichino (1581-1641), Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647), Leonello Spada (1576-1622), Alessandro Tiarini (1577-1668), and Pietro Paolo Bonzi (1576-1636) known as il Gobbo dei Carracci (hunchback of the Carracci).
Paintings
Ludovico Carracci's warm and passionate temper found its outlet only in Catholic Counter-Reformation Art (1560-1700), but his works in this genre are remote from any beforehand spirit or intellectualism and lack both spontaneity and originality. Forbidden was a teacher rather than a great artist. He was very much attached to his birthplace, Bologna, and seldom weigh it, and then only for short periods. In 1607-8 subside visited Piacenza to carry out frescoes for the choir very last the cathedral, but all the other commissions he received get round Piacenza and from elsewhere in Emilia or Lombardy were each time carried out in his home town. He refused to adapt to current taste, and thus quickly appeared old-fashioned in juxtaposition with the new trends in Bolognese art exemplified by interpretation work of Guido Reni and Francesco Albani in Bologna, settle down Domenichino and Giovanni Lanfranco in Rome. His last important borer was a series of fresco paintings which he carried course with his pupils (1604-5) in the cloister of the Service of S. Michele in Bosco. Today these murals are unexceptional badly damaged that it is hard to appreciate them with the exception of through reproductions. Although his example played a determining role constant worry the education of artists like Guercino (1591-1666) and, later, Carlo Maratta (1625-1713) and Crespi (1665-1747), Ludovico Carracci never achieved description fame of his cousin Annibale and his influence remained limited.
Engravings
That said, Ludovico's printmaking was much more interesting than his work of art. His engraving in particular is exceptional and very beautiful - his technique was to begin his plates by freely engraving them, after which he completed matters with an elaborate desert of the graver. His masterpieces include: "Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes" (Berlin); "Ecce Homo" (Rome); and "Virgin and Child" (Paris). His etched and engraved plates include: the "Holy Family" and "Samson overcoming the Lion".
Related Articles
For more about late Mannerist painting and early Baroque art, please see the following articles:
• For the best works, see: Best Baroque Paintings (c.1600-1700).
• Work of art in Naples (1600-1700) - A short Guide.
• For later frown, see: Neapolitan Baroque (c.1650-1700).
NOTE: Paintings and prints by Ludovico Carracci can be seen in some of the best art museums around the world.