Rethinking The Reform

INFORMATION TO USERS
This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMi films
the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and
dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of
computer printer.
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the

copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations
and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper
alignment can adversely affect reproduction.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized
copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.
Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by

sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing
from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.
ProQuest Information and Learning

300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA
800-521-0600
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
RETHINKING TH E REFORM:
A STUDY OF THE EARLY CAREERS OF
LUDOVICO, AGOSTINO, AND ANNIBALE CARRACCI
by
John Joseph Potocki Chvostal
BA, University of California Irvine, 1987
MA, Oberlin College, 1990
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of
Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
University of Pittsburgh
2001
UMI Number: 3066941
___ ®
UMI
UMI Microform 3066941
Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
ProQuest Information and Learning Company

300 North Zeeb Road
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
This dissertation was presented
by
John J. Chvostal
It was defended on
December 12,2002
and approved by
Frank Toker
Francesca Savoia
David Wilkins
M. Alison Stones
Ann S. Harris
Committee chairperson
Copyright by John Joseph Potocki Chvostal
2001
iii
For my parents,
Joan Potocki Chvostal and Paul John Chvostalt,
and my grandmother,
Ann Hrusovitc Potockit
iv
/Is
R E TH IN K IN G THE REFORM:
A STUDY OF TH E EARLY CAREERS OF
LUDOVICO, AGOSTINO, AND ANNIBALE CARRACCI
John Joseph Potocki Chvostal, PhD

University of Pittsburgh, 2001
A number of issues have dominated the Carracci literature over the past
centuiy, including questions about the attribution of their early works, the reliability
of their seventeenth-century biographers, and their comprehension of theory. By all
modem accounts, however, the early years of the Carracci were difficult ones in
which Ludovico and his cousins struggled against established order, persevered, and
triumphed to “reform” painting in Bologna and elsewhere because of Annibale’s
inventiveness.
I challenge this perception of Annibale’s dominant role in the early years of

the Carracci (the period between ca. 1570 and 1585). I explore the origins of the
modem perception of the Carracci “Reform” as expressed in Agostino’s spectacular
funeral o f 1603, his eulogy by Lucio Faberio, and a treatise by Giovanni Battista
Agucchi. Special attention is paid to the imprese that the Carracci invented for
themselves and their Academy. A study of their intellectual histories touches upon
the broader topics of artistic education in the sixteenth-century and the artists’ close
contacts with Bolognese humanism. Information in the sources and visual evidence
form the basis for a new chronology of Ludovico’s early works that places him in the
forefront of the Reform. Travel and the common practice of making copies also
played a decisive role in the artists’ development, as did their critical response to
Giorgio Vasari’s Vite. I consider how the artistic atmosphere in Parma affected
Annibale’s style around 1585 and propose a new interpretation of his Pieta w ith Saints.
Likewise, I question how scholars presendy interpret Agostino’s engravings by
examining the print trade and his techniques. The Jason Cycle (1584) brought the
Carracci together and was one of several commissions they received from Count
Filippo Fava. I investigate those projects closely and identify hitherto unknown
drawings for works in the Palazzo Fava that provide fresh insights into the artists’
creative process.
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation is the result of the special assistance and support of many
individuals. My greatest academic debt is to Professor Ann Sutherland Harris, my
advisor. For years we have had countless conversations about the Carracci. H er
endless patience, astute insights, and expertise have greatly enriched my work. My
graduate committee, Professors Francesca Savoia, Alison Stones, Franklin Toker, and
David Wilkins, also offered invaluable recommendations. Any errors of thought or
typography are, of course, mine and not theirs. I would also like to thank deeply
members of the administrative staff at the University of Pittsburgh: Linda Hicks, the
Administrative Assistant to the Department Chair, and Carol Kassimer, Gail Brobst,
and Teddi Prettiman, who served as Secretaries of Graduate and Undergraduate
Studies in the Department of Art History over the course of my graduate work.
Philippa K. Carter, Graduate Studies Specialist, was also exceptionally helpful with
official matters.
I could not have formulated my ideas without the assistance of many scholars
working in museums, libraries, and archives in America and Europe, especially
Marjorie B. Cohn, Marzia Faietti, and Catherine Loisel Legrand. I must also
acknowledge the generous financial support of the University of Pittsburgh, the
Samuel H. Kress Foundation, and the Rudy Bruner Foundation. Laura
DeNormandie, Ellen Haynes, Ann Havinga, Donald and Anne McColl, Ruth Morss,
all long-time friends, have contributed to this work both directly and indirectly. No
one, however, deserves my appreciation more than my mother and late father, Joan
and Paul Chvostal. They provided loving encouragement and the security necessary
for me to complete my studies. Moreover, their dedication to hard work has, and
always will be, a source of inspiration to me: SCUTUM OPPONERAT SCUTIS.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
L is t o f F ig u r e s ............................................................................................................................. jc
1. R e a d i n g t h e C a r r a c c i ................................................................................................ i
INTRODUCTION: READING PROBLEMS
R e r e a d in g T h e C a r r a c c i
2. T h e E n d ............................................................................................................................ 16
D eath
“/ s o u R e s t i t u t o r i d e l V e r o M o d o DEL DIPINGERE?:
T h e f e r t i l e Se e d s O f A n I d e a
R e s u rre c tin g p i t t u r a T h e ut r a t t a t o ” Of
G io v a n n i B a t t i s t a A g u c c h i
T h e C a r r ia g e O f St a r d o m A n d T h e C a r r a c c i
Academ y
3. L e a r n i n g t o M a s t e r A n e w T r a d e .................................................................... 45
In t r o d u c t io n : l e a r n in g a b o u t T h e C a r r a c c i
St u d ia H u m a n i t a t i s ? O r C a r l o , T h e O th e r
C arrac ci
S t u d i u m Pi c t u r e
4. T h e “O x ’s” T a l e .............................................................................................................. 66
C o p y in g T h e P ast
L u d o v i c o ’s s t u d io s o C o r so a n d St u d ia t a
m a n i e r a L u d o v i c o ’s I n c o r p o r a z i o n e a n d h i s
Bo t t e g a
L u d o v i c o ’s M a n i e r a -. a n e w C h r o n o l o g y
w o r k s F r o m T h e S t u d io s o Co r so
E a r l y E x a m p le s O f T h e St u d ia t a M a n ie r a
L u d o v i c o ’s C o r r e g g is m o
5. F i n d i n g t h e W a y ......................................................................................................... 99
A M a p Fr o m T h e P a st
V lll
P a p e r T r a il s : A n n ib a l e ’s L e t t e r s An d The
La n g u a g e O f V asari
T h e C a r r a c c i a n d C o n t e m p o r a r y T h e o r is t s
6. P r e s s in g M a t t e r s : A g o s t i n o as P r i n t m a k e r ............................................ n 6
a g o s t in o In p r i n t
E a r l y St a t e s
Counter Proof
7. I n Se a r c h O f T h e G o l d e n F l e e c e a n d O t h e r A r t is t ic
O p p o r t u n it i e s .............................................................................................................. 147
T h e C a rra c c i A nd C o u n t F ava
A n n i b a l e ’s D e c o r a t i v e P a i n t i n g s
T h e C a m e r i n o D ’E u r o p a
T h e Sa l a D i G ia s o n e
8. A n n i b a l e ’s S e c o n d T r i p t o P a r m a , H i s P ie t a , A n d T h e
B e g i n n i n g s o f F a r n e s e P a t r o n a g e ................................................................ 175
9. T h e E n d O f t h e B e g i n n i n g ................................................................................ 189
A p p e n d ic e s
A. E x c e r p t s f r o m I l F v n e r a l e d ’A g o s t i n C a r r a c c io f a t t o
in b o l o g n a s v a p a t r i a d a G l’I n c a m in a ti A c a d e m i c i d e l
D is e g n o s c r i t t o a l l ' I l l . mo e t r mo s ig * C a r d i n a l F a r n e s e .
(BOLOGNA: VITTORIO BENACCL1603)............................................................................ 194
B. L i s t O f F i f t y V e r s e s i n P r a is e O f A g o s t i n o C a r r a c c i .
B o l o g n a , B ib l io t e c a U n iv e r s it a r ia m s 1771 (3886) b u s t a
II lPOESIE VARIEUAL s ig . a g o s tin o CARRACCIO PITTORE”}.................................. 204
C. C u t -A w a y D ia g r a m o f t h e P a l a z z o F a v a , B o l o g n a ,
S h o w i n g t h e P ia n o N o b il e ...................................................................................207
B i b l io g r a p h y ..............................................................................................................................209
bo o k s, A r t ic l e s , A n d D is s e r t a t io n s
E x h i b i t i o n A n d Sa l e s C a t a l o g u e s
M a n u s c r ip t s
F ig u r e s ............................................................................................................................................237
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
I have deliberately limited the number of figures included in this dissertation

since excellent reproductions o f most of the works mentioned in the text are readily
available. The list below represents material that is essential to my discussion, rarefy
illustrated in the literature, or is unpublished. In the case of engravings ana
etchings, which usually exist in multiple versions, the state of the print is indicated in
parenthesis together with the Bartscn number (“B.”), following the medium.
An abbreviated reference to the source of the illustration is given within

parentheses at the end of each caption. When the word “Museum” appears, the
source was a photograph, photocopy, electroprint, or microfilm acquired from the
institution which owns the work. The letter “G .” preceding a number refers to
photographs in the Gemsheim Corpus Photographicum of Drawings. T he letter
C.” followed by a number indicates that the illustration was taken from a microfilm
of a book in the Fondo Cicognara of the Vatican Library, the number itself referring
to entries in Leopoldo Cicognara’s Catalogo ragionato dei libridarte edantichitdposseduti
dalconte Cicognara, 2 vols. (Pisa: N. Capurro, 1821). Otherwise complete citations for
the parenthetical abbreviations appear in the Bibliography.
1. Anonymous engraving, Impresa of the Carracci Academy, from Carlo Cesare

Malvasia’s Felsmapittrtce, Bologna, 1678, vol 1, p. 321 (photo: C. 4201)
2. Anonymous woodcut, De L ’Orsa Maggiore, from Alessandro Piccolomini’s De le
stellefisse..., Venice, 1595, fig. 2 (photo: Harvard University Library)
3. Anonymous engraving, Titian’s Impresa from Battista Pittoni’s Imprese di diversi

Prenctpi, Duci, signoriedaltri..., Venice, 1562, n.p. (photo: C. 1937)
4. Ludovico Carracci, Impresa o f the Carracci Academy, ca. 1602/03, pen and brown
ink with brush and brown wash, 189 x 162 mm., Avignon, Musee Calvet (photo:
Disegni 1998)
5. Francesco Brizio, Announcement o f a Meeting o f the Carracci Academy, ca. 1600-

1605, engraving (BXVHI.156.272), 137 x 99 mm. (photo: Washington 1979)
6. Detail of fig. 5
7. Albrecht Durer, Astrological Chart o f the Northern Sky (detail), 1515, woodcut
(photo: www.scivis.com/AC/stor/durermap.jpg)
8. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Engraved frontispiece of Carlo Carracci’s

Modo deldividere Fdluvioni..., Bologna, 1579 (photo: T he British Library)
x
9. Detail of fig. 8
10. Page 179 from Carlo Carracci’s Modo del dividere Falluvioni..., Bologna, 1579
(photo: The British Library)
11. Ludovico Carracci, Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine, ca. 1570-75, oil on canvas,
63 x 51 cm., Bologna, Private Collection (photo: Bologna 1993)
12. Ludovico Carracci, Medea Rejuvenating the Lamb (detail), 1584, fresco, Bologna,
Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone, north wall) (photo: Ottani 1966)
13. Parmigianino, Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine, ca. 1525/26, oil on panel, 74.2 x
57.2 cm., London, National Gallery (photo: Rossi 1980)
14. Francesco Parmigianino, Madonna o f the Rose, 1529/30, oil on panel, 109 x 88.5
cm., Dresden, Gemaldegalerie (photo: Museum)
15. Ludovico Carracci, Holy Family Beneath A n Arch, ca. 1577, engraving (B.XVIIL264,
I st state), 267 x 327 mm. (photo: Washington 1979)
16. Detail of fig. 15
17. Ludovico Carracci, Study fo r the Virgin and Child, ca. 1577, black chalk, 253 x 343
mm., Private Collection (photo: Frick Art Reference Library)
18. Ludovico Carracci, Studyfo r SaintJoseph, ca. 1577, pen and brown ink with brush
and brown wash, 139 x 119 mm, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum (photo: Museum)
19. Andrea Del Sarto, Madonna del Sacco, 1525, fresco, 191 x 403 cm., Florence, SS.
Annunziata (photo: Shearman 1965)
20. Ludovico Carracci, Lamentation, ca. 1578/79, oil on canvas, 95.3 x 172.7 cm., New
York, Metropolitan Museum of Art (photo: Museum)
22. Parmigianino, Entombment, etching (B.XVIIL30046, 2nd state), 274 x 206 mm.
(photo: Landua/Parshall 1994)
23. Andrea Del Sarto, Lamentation, ca. 1520, oil on panel, 99 x 120 cm., Vienna,
Kunsthistorisches Museum (photo: Museum)
24. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, Study ofaBoyLyingon His Back, red chalk,
186 x 26 mm., location unknown (photo: Christiansen 2000)
25. Ludovico Carracci, Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine with Saints Joseph and
Francis, and Angels, ca. 1579, oil on canvas, 158 x 139 cm., Goteborg, Goteborgs
Konstmuseum, (Ekserdjian 1997)
26. Correggio, Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine with SaintsJohn the Baptist, Elizabeth,
and jLacbarias, ca. 1512, oil on panel, 135 x 123 cm., Detroit, Institute o f Art
(Ekserdjian 1997)
xi
27. Ludovico Carracci, Baptism o f Christ, ca. 1580-83, oil on canvas, 148 x 117 cm.,
Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen (photo: Bologna 1993)
28. Ludovico Carracci, Marriage o f the Virgin, ca. 1580-83, oil on copper, 41.2 x 32
cm., Private collection on loan to the National Gallery, London (photo: Bologna
1993)
29. Ludovico Carracci, Vision o f Saint Francis, ca. 1583/84., oil on canvas, 103 x 102
cm., Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum (photo: Bologna 1993)
30. Ludovico Carracci, Incantation o fMedea, 1584, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala
di Giasone, north wall) (photo: Bologna 1993)
31. Ludovico Carracci, Study for the Vision o f Saint Francis, ca. 1580-83, red chalk,
264 x 207 mm., London, British Museum (photo: Bohn 1984)
32. Annibale Carracci, Baptism o f Christ, 1585, oil on canvas, 383 x 225 cm., Bologna,
San Gregorio (photo: Malafrina 1976)
33. Carracci Workshop, Marriage o f the Virgin, ca. 1582/83, oil on copper, 43 x 31.8
cm., private collection (photo: Whitfield 1982)
34. Antonio da Correggio, Nolime tangere, early 1520s, oil on canvas transferred from
panel, 130 x 103 cm., Madrid, Museo del Prado (photo: Ekserdjian 1997)
35. Antonio da Correggio, Assumption o f the Virgin, 1530, fresco, 1093 x 1155 cm.,
Parma, Cathedral (photo: Ekserdjian 1997)
36. Cesare Aretusi after Antonio da Correggio, Coronation o f the Virgin, fresco, 1586,
Parma, San Giovanni Evangelista (photo: Ekserdjian 1997)
37. Antonio da Correggio, Madonna della Scodella, 1530, oil on panel, 218 x 137 cm.,
Parma, Galleria Nazionale (photo: Ekserdjian 1997)
38. Antonio da Correggio, Madonna o f Saint Jerome (II Giomo), ca. 1527/28, oil on
panel, 205 x 141 cm., Parma, Galleria Nazionale (photo: Ekserdjian 1997)
39. Detail o f fig. 38
40. Annibale Carracci, Butcher’s Shop, ca. 1582/83,. oil on canvas, 190 x 271 cm.,
Oxford, Christ Church (photo: Museum)
41. Agostino Carracci (after?), Adoration o f the Most Holy Name o f God, ca. 1587,
engraving (not in B., 2nd o f two states), 367 x 258 mm. (photo: Museum {Bologna,
Galleria Nazionale])
42. Agostino Carracci, Adoration o f the Most Holy Name o f God, ca. 1587, pen and
brown ink with brush and brown wash, 265 x 176 mm., Paris, Musee du Louvre
(photo: Sutherland Harris 2000)
43. Anonymous (formerly attributed to Agostino Carracci), Adoration o f the M ost

Holy Name o f God, 1582, engraving (BJXXII.97.108, only state), 503 x 361 mm.
(photo: Washington 1979)
xii
44- Agostino Carracci (after Giulio Bonasone), Skull o f an Ox, Frontispiece to
Achille Bocchi’s Bonon symbolicarum..., Bologna, 1574, engraving (B.XVIIL148.257,
only state), i n x 83 mm. (photo: Washington 1979)
45. Agostino Carracci, Frontispiece to Carlo Beam's Acutissimaacsubtilissima..., 1575,
engraving (not in B., only state), 370 x 235 mm. (photo: Harvard Law Art
Collection)
46. Agostino Carracci (after Marcantonio Raimondi), Holy Family, 1576, engraving
(not in B., only state), 168 x 197 mm. (photo: Washington 1979)
47. Agostino Carracci, Head o f a Bacchante, ca. 1569/70, engraving (B.XVIII.148.254,

only state), 73 x 63 mm. (sheet) (photo: Washington 1979)
48. Here attributed to Agostino Carracci or Domenico Tibaldi, Head o f Bacchante,

ca. 1569/70, pen and brown ink with brash and brown wash, 70 x 51 mm.,
Chatsworth, Duke of Devonshire (photo: Jaffe 1994)
49. Agostino Carracci, Satyr’s Head with Ass’s Ears, ca. 1569/70, engraving
(B.XVIII.147.251, only state), ca. 75 x 61 mm. (sheet) (photo: Washington 1979)
50. Here attributed to Agostino Carracci or Domenico Tibaldi, Satyr’s Head with
Ram’s Horns, ca. 1569/70, pen and brown ink with brash and brown wash, 70 x
51 mm., Chatsworth, Duke of Devonshire (photo: Jaffe 1994)
51. Agostino Carracci, Head o fa Damned Soul (Anima Dannata) (after an engraving
by Antonio Salamanca [ng. 52] based on a drawing by Michelangelo), ca.
1569/70, engraving (B.XVIIL147.253, only state), ca. 73 x 61 mm. (sheet) (photo:
Washington 1979)
52. Antonio Salamanca, Damned Soul (Anima Dannata) (after a drawing by
Michelangelo), engraving, 177 x 125 mm. (photo: Rome 1965)
53. Luca Ciamberlano, Damned Soul (Anima Dannata), engraving (B.XVlll.162.27, only
state), 164 x 115 mm. (photo: Illustrated Bartsch)
54. Agostino Carracci, Pope Gregory X III, 1572, engraving (B.XVIII.116.146, ist state), 137
x 130 mm. (photo: Washington 1979)
55. Agostino Carracci (after a drawing by Orazio Sammacchini), Presentation a t the

Temple, ca. 1578, engraving (B.XVII43.12, only state), 406 x 287 m m . (photo:
Washington 1979)
56. Agostino Carracci (after a painting by Paulo Veronese), Martyrdom o f Sta.
Gtustina o fPadua, 1582, engraving (B.XVIII.78.78, 4th state), 451 x 592 m m . (photo:
Washington 1979)
57. Agostino Carracci (after a painting by Paolo Veronese), Pietd, 1582, engraving
(B.XVIIL93.102, Ist state), 407 x 286 m m . (photo: Washington 1979)
58. Annibale Carracci, Crucifixion, 1581, engraving (B.XVIIL183.5, only state), 492 x
347 mm. (photo: Washington 1979)
xiii
59- Agostino Carracci (after an etching by Federico Barocci [fig. 60]),Madonna and
Child on the Clouds, 1582, engraving (B.XVIL57.32, ist state), 153 x 118 mm. (photo:
Washington 1979)
60. Federico Barocci, Madonna and Child on the Clouds, 1582, etching (B.XVII.220.33,
only state), 153 x 118 mm. (photo: Washington 1979)

63. Annibale Carracci (after an etching by Federico Barocci [fig. 60}), Madonna and
Child on the Clouds (detail), ca. 1582, engraving (B.XVII.187.10, only state), 247 x 174
mm. (photo: Washington 1979)
64. Agostino Carracci and an anonymous engraver (after a design by Raphael),
Madonna and Child on the Clouds, ca. 1582, engraving (B.XVII.60.36, only state), 248
x 176 mm. (photo: Washington 1979)
65. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Woman Playing a Harp, ca. 1575, oil on
panel, 69 x 53 cm., Rome, Count Hercolani Fava Simonetti (photo: Schleier
1994 )
66. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, EuropaFeedingtheBull, ca. 1579-80, fresco,

Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Camerino 1fEuropa, east wall) (photo: Ottani 1966)
67. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Europa Leadingthe Bull, ca. 1579-80, fresco,
Bologna, Palazzo Fava (<Camerino d’E uropa, north wall) (photo: Ottani 1966)
69. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Europa Sitting on the Bull, ca. 1579-80,
fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Camerino dEuropa, west wall) (photo: Ottani
1966)
70. Ludovico Carracci, Europa Sitting on the Bull, ca. 1579-80, black and white chalk
on gray-blue paper, 379 x 325 mm., Florence, Walter Gemsheim (photo: Ottani
1966)
71. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Rape o f Europa, ca. 1579-80, fresco,
Bologna, Palazzo Fava, (1Camerino d’Europa, south wait) (photo: Ottani 1966)
72. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Grottesche, ca. 1579-80, fresco, Bologna,
Palazzo Fava (Camerino d’Europa, east wait) (photo: Ottani 1966)
Palazzo Fava (Camerino d’Europa, north wait) (photo: Ottani 1966)
Palazzo Fava (Camerino d’Europa, west wait) (photo: Ottani 1966)
Palazzo Fava (Camerino (fEuropa, south wait) (photo: Ottani 1966)
xiv
76. H ere attributed to Annibale Carracci, Paired Satyrs Atop an Urn, ca. 1579-80,
fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (<Camerino d’E uropa, south wall) (photo: Ottani
19 66)
77. Photograph published in 1912 of the painted ceiling in the Camerino d’E uropa,
ca. 1579, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (photo: Sighinolfi 1912)
80. Line drawing of the crest or stemma of the Fava family (photo: Roversi 1987)
81. Anonymous woodcut of the Temple of Vesta in Vincenzo Cartari’sLe imagini
de’idet, Venice, 1556, p. 200 (photo: Cartari 1556)
82. Courtyard of the Collegio di Spagna with frescoes by Annibale Carracci (late-
nineteenth-centuiy photograph), ca. 1575 (photo: Harvard University, Fine Arts
Library)
83. Annibale Carracci, Emperor Augustus, ca. 1575, fresco (late-nineteenth-century
photograph), Bologna, Collegio di Spagna (courtyard, upper spandrel) (photo:
Harvard University, Fine Arts Library)
84. Annibale Carracci, Grotesche, ca. 1575, fresco (late-nineteenth-century
photograph), Bologna, Collegio di Spagna (courtyard, lower spandrel) (photo:
Harvard University, Fine Arts Library)
85. Two scenes from the Jason Cycle, Jason Taming the Bulls and Sowing the Dragon’s
Teeth (scene XI) and Jason Fighting the Warriors Bom o f the Dragon’s Teeth (scene
XII), 1583/84, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone, west wall) (photo:
Frick Art Reference Library).
86. Anonymous, Guglielmo Fava, inscribed 1417, marble, formerly Bologna, Palazzo
Fava (Sala di Giasone) (photo: Sighinolfi 1912)
87. Anonymous, NicoloFava, inscribed 1430, marble, formerly Bologna, Palazzo Fava
(Sala d i Giasone) (photo: Sighinolfi 1912)
88. Anonymous, Pellegrino Fava, inscribed 1343, marble, formerly Bologna, Palazzo
Fava (Saladi Giasone) (photo: Sighinolfi 1912)
89. Anonymous, Alessandro Fava (d. 1572), marble, formerly Bologna, Palazzo Fava
(Sala di Giasone,) (photo: Sighinolfi 1912)
90. Gian Giacomo Caraglio after Rosso Fiorentino, Jupiter, 1526, engraving
(BJCV.79.26), 196 x 108 mm. (photo: Archer 1995)
91. Agostino C anned, Jupiter, 1584, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone,
north wall) (photo: Ottani 1966)
92. Annibale Carracci, Pluto (terminal fig. x), The Meeting o f Jason and King Ae'etes
(scene IX), and Juno (terminal fig. xi), 1583/84, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava
(Sala d i Giasone, south waif) (photo: Harvard University, Fine Arts Library)
93. Annibale Carracci, Neptune (terminal fig. viii) and The Argo Transported Across the
Libyan Desert and the Battle with Harptes and W ild Beasts (scene VII), 1583/84,
fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone, south wall) (photo: Harvard
University, Fine Arts Library)
94. H ere attributed to Agostino Carracci, Jason Taming the Bulls and Sowing the
Dragon’s Teeth (scene XI), 1584, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone,
west wall) (photo: Harvard University, Fine Arts Library)
xv
95- Ludovico Carracci, Jason F ittin g the Warriors Bom o f the Dragon’s Teeth (scene
XII, detail), 1584, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone, west wall)
(photo: Harvard University, Fine Arts Library)
96. Agostino Carracci,Jason Seizing the Golden Fleece (scene XIII, detail), 1584, fresco,
Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala at Giasone, west wall) (photo: Harvard University,
Fine Arts Library)
97. Anonymous 17th-century artist after the Carracci, Designsfo r a Freize, red chalk,
264 x 152 mm., Florence, Gabinetto disegni e stampe degli Uffizi (Photo: Frick
Art Reference Library)
98. Here attributed to Agostino Carracci, Study fo r a Pilaster, pen and brown ink
with brush and gray wash, 191 x 104 mm., Vienna, Staatlichen Graphischen
Sammlung Albertina (photo: Museum)
99. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, The Meeting o f Jason and King Ae'etes (recto
of fig. 100), 1583/84, pen and black ink with brush and brown was over black
chalk with some squaring in red chalk, 254 x 315 m m , Munich, Staatliche
Graphische Sammlung (photo: Washington 1999)
100. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, The Meeting o f Jason and King Ae'etes (verso
of fig. 99), 1583/84, black chalk, 254 x 315 mm., Munich, Staatliche Graphische
Sammlung (photo: Washington 1999)
101. Agostino Carracci, Pelias Sacrificing to Neptune, 1583/84, pen and ink of unknown
color with brush and gray wash, squared in black chalk, 423 x 567 mm., location
unknown (photo: Harris 2000)
102. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Bacchus (verso of fig. 103), 1583/84, red
chalk, 412 x 255 mm., Moscow, Pushkin Museum of State Museum of Fine Arts
(photo: Moscow 1995)
103. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Portrait o f a M an and Study o f an Infant

(recto of fig. 102), 1583/84, red and black chalk, 412 x 255 mm., Moscow,
Pushkin Museum o f State Museum of Fine Arts (photo: Moscow 1995)
104. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, Bacchus, 1583/84, chalk (of unknown
color), measurements unknown, formerly Vienna, Kislinger Collection (ca. 1935)
(photo: Frick Art Reference Library)
105. Annibale Carracci, Studies o f Two P utti, 1583-85, red chalk and some charcoal or
black chalk, 189 x 177 mm., London, British Museum (photo: Turner 1995)
106. Annibale Carracci, Angel Playing a Violin, 1583-85, red chalk, 164 x 201 mm.,
London, British Museum (photo: Museum)
107. Ludovico Carracci, Boy Holding an Offering (recto of fig. 108), 1583/84, black
chalk and white chalk on bluish paper, 379 x 192 mm., Oxford, Ashmolean
Museum (photo: Museum)
108. Ludovico Carracci, M an Holding a Lamp (verso of fig. 107), 1583/84, black chalk
and white chalk on bluish paper, 379 x 192 mm., Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
(photo: Museum)
xvi
109. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, Two Men Dressed in Exotic Costumes,
1583/84, red chalk, 378 x 221 mm., Budapest, Szepmiiveszeti Muzeum (photo:
Washington 1999)
n o . Annibale Carracci, Procession o f Pelais to the Oracle (scene III, detail), 1583/84,
fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone, east wall) (Photo: Washingon
1991)
in . Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, Young Man Wearing a Heavy Cloak, red
chalk, 417 x 238 mm., Windsor Castle, Royal Collection (photo: Fine Arts
Library Harvard University)
112. Ludovico Carracci, Male Nude (verso of fig. 113), ca. 1584, black chalk, 371 x 254
mm., London, Victoria and Albert Museum (photo: G 2970)
113. Ludovico Carracci, Falling Male Nude(recto of fig. 112), ca. 1584, black chalk, 371
x 254 mm., London, Victoria and Albert Museum (photo: Bohn 1984)
114. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, MaleNude, ca. 1588, black chalk, 216 x 303
mm., Windsor Castle, Royal Library (photo: G. 15517)
115. Ludovico Carracci, Male Pulling on a Rope, ca. 1586, black chalk, 350 x 260 mm.,
Chatsworth, Duke of Devonshire (photo: Museum)
116. Here attributed to Agostino Carracci, Head o f a Bearded Old Man, 1583/84, red
and white chalks on gray-creen paper, 233 x 173 mm., Windsor Castle, Royal
Collection (photo: G. 21562)
117. Agostino Carracci, Study o f Hands, ca. 1585, black and white chalk on blue
paper, 198 x 250 mm., London, Courtauld Institute Galleries (photo: Museum)
118. Annibale Carracci, Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine, ca. 1585, oil on canvas, 162
x 118 cm., Naples, Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte (Photo:
Cooney/Malafarina 1976)
119. Annibale Carracci, Pieta with Saints, 1585, oil on canvas, 374 x 238 cm., Parma,
Galleria Nazionale (Photo: Cooney/ Malafarina 1976)
120. Plan of Santa Maria Maddalena (“J Cappucini") and the Capuchin Convent,
detail from Gian Pietro Sardi’s Map o f Parma, 1767, folio 1 (photo: Sardi 1993)
121. Annibale Carracci, Saint Francis Adoring the Crucifix, 1585, engraving
(B.XVIIL191J5, only state), 143 x 106 mm . (photo: Washington 1979)
122. Agostino Carracci, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, 1586, engraving
(B.XVIII.72.68, ist state), 453 x 317 mm. (photo: Washington 1979)
It is difficult to speak of the Carracci, of their great mission, and of the
place that they occupy in Italian art without employing overused
concepts and timeworn adjectives, for the Carracci's beginnings, the
impact of the new naturalism of their youthful works on subsequent
developments, and their evident position in the avant garde of
European realism in the years between 1583 and i585...are among the
most debated topics of Italian art—especially in recent years. So also is
the question of what, in every aspect, united the three young artists
and what very soon divided tnem—the early signs o f their individual
personalities—and the theories that sustained them and the culture
that underlay their work (Giulio Briganti, “Lombard Character, Roman
Ideas, Etruscan Spirits, and the Antique in Emilian Painting of the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries” in The Age o f Correggio and the
Carracci: Emilian Painting o f the Sixteenth and the Seventeenth Centuries,
exh. cat. translated by Robert Erich W olf et aL, Bologna, Pinacoteca
Nazionale—Washington, T_' ^ ' T ^ ^ —New York,
Metropolitan Museum Pinacoteca
Nazionale; Washington, , New York:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986), p. xxvii).
xvm
Ch apter O n e
R e a d in g T h e C arracci
INTRODUCTION: READING PROBLEMS
The question of the beginnings of the Carracci is one of the most hotly
litigated in the scholarly literature. It is an important one because, in its
essentials, the critical and stylistic basis o f the Carracci reform of painting was
already in force by 1584-85. (Charles Dempsey)1
nyone even generally familiar with the Carracci is probably aware of the
A complex problems that have dominated the literature over the past
century.2 These issues include basic questions about the chronology and
attribution of numerous early paintings and drawings and the reliability of
seventeenth-century biographers, in addition to more abstract speculations about the
artists’ comprehension of theory. If one had to characterize art historians interested
in the Carracci, the term “gl’incamminatt” perhaps best suits them. It is a phrase that
the artists actually used to describe themselves and the members of their fledgling
academy known as the Accademia delli Desiderosi, which they opened in 1582. The
term has been variously translated as meaning “Progressives”, “Those who are
making it”, and “Those who make progress together”, but Charles Dempsey’s
suggestion that the expression referred to pupils embarked on a “corso de
petfezionamento” could describe modem students of the Carracci, who have set out to
understand more perfectly the artists and their art.3 While it is highly unlikely that
1. Charles Dempsey, “T he Carracci Reform of Painting” in Washington/New York 1986, p. 237.
2. For those who are not, see Charles Dempsey, “Gli studi sui Carracci: lo stato della questione,”
Arte a Bologpa: bollettmo dei musei ctvici aarte antica I (1990), pp. 21-31; and Diane DeGrazia,
“Carracci Drawings in Britain and the State of Carracci Studies,” Master Drawings XXXVI
(1998), pp. 292-304.
3. See, respectively, Ellis Waterhouse, Italian Baroque Painting (London: Phaidon Press, 1962), p.
85; Donald Posner, Annibale Carracci: A Study in the Reform ofltalian PaintingA round 1590, vol. 1,
London and New Haven: Phaidon Press, 1971, p. 1; D. Stephen Pepper, Review of Annibale
our knowledge of the Carracci will ever be perfetta, it is probable that historians will
continue to strive for perfection, like the Incamminati, for many years to come.
Despite considerable controversies that problematise fundamental issues, a

surprising consensus exists about the artists’ early years in general—one in which
Annibale played the leading role in their attempts to reform the art of painting in
Bologna. But this view has little basis in the primary sources, and is, instead, the
product of later historians. They tell how, as a mere youth, Annibale had a special
appreciation for nature and then discovered through his travels artists such as
Correggio in Parma and Titian in Venice. H e supposedly appropriated aspects of
their styles (Correggio’s mastery of naturalism, for example) and combined them with
realism in his own paintings, although “giudiciosaimitazione”, or the judicious imitation
of the Old Masters, was first associated with Agostino in the early sources.4
According to most modem accounts, Annibale’s reformed manner motivated his
elder brother, Agostino, and their cousin, Ludovico, to adopt similar views.
Agostino’s reproductive engravings are often said to reproduce paintings by North
Italian artists that the trio admired. W ith the circulation of those prints, it is thought
that the Carracci hoped to disseminate to other painters a new canon of images
worth emulating. Similarly, historians generally assume that it was in 1582 that the
Carracci opened an academy to share their ideas with young Bolognese painters.
W hile scholars still disagree about the level of critical discourse in the academy, they
usually concur that academicians were somehow involved directly in the trio’s studio.
This idea is based on the incorrect assumption that the Carracci rejected
conventional working methods and wished to establish an academy unlike any other
in Italy. Recent investigations into the intellectual origins of the Carracci reform
have mainly focused on identifying and interpreting the visual sources for Annibale’s
paintings with the intention of reconciling problems of style, theory, and their
reception, although Agostino’s and Ludovico’s art deserves similar critical attention.?
Carracciand the Beginnings o fthe Baroque Style, by Charles Dempsey, In A rt Bulletin LXVI (1984),
532; and Charles Dempsey, “The Carracci Academy,” in Academies o f A rt Between the
^ enaissance and Romanticism (Sticbting Leids Kunstbistoriscb Jaarboek V -V l), ed. by Anton W. A
Boschloo (Delft: Delftsche uitg. mij, 1989),, 1989, p. 11.
4. See Chapter Two below.
5. The most noteworthy exception to this statement is Elizabeth Cropper’s essay devoted to
the artists’ practice of imitation in which she wrote: “The significance of critical dialogues
between one artist and another and the meaning of historical sources have recently been
discussed productively by critics of later periods (and here I think of Michael Fried’s work on
Manet), but such questions have generally not been asked concerning th e relationship
between the art of the Carracci reform and the works out of which it was made. Discussion
3
By all modem accounts, the early years of the Carracci were difficult ones in which
they struggled against established order in Bologna yet persevered and triumphed
largely because of Annibale’s inventiveness. Under his guidance, they were rebels
with a cause.
This dissertation challenges many of these ideas about the artists’ beginnings.
I t focuses on the years between ca. 1570 and 1585, of which only the last five have
been subject to intense scrutiny. Discussions o f the activities of the Carracci before
1580 have been limited to reviewing the “factual” information found in the early
sources because scholars assume that this thinly documented period is but a muffled
overture to the years o f real innovation that followed. Questioning what is commonly
thought about the Carracci can expand our understanding of their formation and
help to situate them more convincingly among their predecessors and contemporary
developments. But this can only be achieved by carefully reading the works of art,
source material, and modem scholarship. It is tempting when dealing with artists as
remarkable as the Carracci to presume that they existed outside the norm and
invented new methods of working or revolutionary ways of thinking. It would be
equally incorrect to consider them ordinary artists. Instead, I see their innovations as
an outgrowth of more common practices.
A great deal o f literary and visual evidence exists to challenge Annibale’s

dominance in modem accounts of the Carracci Reform, as I will demonstrate. But
aside from proposing broad, new interpretations of the period, I will also address
more specific questions, some of which have been rarefy investigated or never
studied. In the chapters that follow, I turn to specific subjects within the period,
which I examine in greater depth. These investigations aim to discuss the artists’
exposure to the culture of learning in Bologna, the role travel played in their reform,
the chronology of Ludovico’s early works, the function of Agostino’s prints, and how
they produced art. Because of the range of issues involved in reinterpreting the
origins of the Carracci Reform, any attempt to understand afresh the artists and their
of relationships of this kind has generally limited itself to the identification of sources, to the
dutiful recording of th e progress of the studio corso, to judgment of the success or failure of
assimilation, or, following Vasari, to assessment of a stylistic development toward the ideal
(whether this be in Bologna or Rome). In the case of a school of painting that has carried the
burden of being the first to be characterized overtly as eclectic in modern times, the
question of the Carracci’s specific rather than absolute relationship to the art of the past is,
however, perhaps the most important one we can ask” (Elizabeth Cropper, “Tuscan History
and Emilian Style,” in Emilian Painting o fthe i6tb and iytb Centuries: A Symposium [Centerfo r the
Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery o f A rt, Washington, D.C.] [Bologna: Nuova
Alfa, 1987], pp. 51-52).
4
works is a daunting task that requires a broadly-based approach encompassing

connoisseurship, philology, iconography, an awareness of studio practices and the art
market in the Sekento, to list just some. Perhaps the most important avenue of
investigation, however, is a keen awareness of how different the prevailing image of
Ludovico and his cousins is from opinions expressed in the earliest sources.
R e r e a d in g T he C a r r a c c i
he paintings, prints, and drawings that survive from the period represent a
T surprising and impressive range of styles and types. Whereas many of their
prints are signed and/or dated (the earliest, by Agostino, is o f 1576), only
four paintings and one drawing bear dates from the early 1580s, and none are signed.
W hile these works demonstrate the artists’ exceptional skills, they yield little
information about their personal lives, interests, or activities. Biographical details
appear in written accounts and in documents that serve as the basis for
understanding the Carracci as historical personalities. Authors since the
seventeenth centuiy have used the information published about the Carracci to
construct their own accounts of the artists’ lives, but until the twentieth century,
chroniclers expressed few doubts about the accuracy of the literature. While
questioning the sources is a valid and necessary method of investigation, all too often
scholars have dismissed, doubted, or neglected these early texts because they
expressed ideas now judged to be at odds with the visual evidence or modem
notions of the Carracci. T he practice is so common in Sekento studies in general that
Elizabeth Cropper and Charles Dempsey deemed it “the problem of the sources.”6
Because I rely on several authors whose works have been discounted or

undervalued, I will examine them and their texts in depth with the intent of
“validating” the information they contain. Moreover, I will discuss the origins of the
“Carracci Reform” as a historical phenomena rather than as the term invented in the
twentieth centuiy to describe the impact the Carracci had on the mankra modema. I
will also investigate when and how Ludovico and his cousins were first identified as
“restitutori” or “riformatorT, explaining what exactly they were “restorers” or
“reformers” of, and thus underscoring how Sekento authors judged those
achievements. Primary among those early works are the writings of Lucio Faberio
6. See Elizabeth Cropper and Charles Dempsey, “T h e State of Research in Italian Painting of
the Seventeenth Century,” A rt Bulletin LXIX (1987), p. 497.
5
and Giovanni Battista Agucchi, both of whom discussed the Carracci in detail,
indicating that as young men they set out to transform painting through various
means. From the early 1580 onward, Ludovico and his cousins made a conscious
effort to promote themselves, adopting an impresa for their family and another for
their academy. Their efforts culminated with the spectacular funeral the Academy
held for Agostino in 1603, where the role of the trio as “rtformatori” was promulgated
in symbolic and literary form. Faberio’s eulogy honoring Agostino is just one of more
than fifty early sources that conveys the trio’s ambitions to lead an artistic reform.
Agucchi, like Faberio, knew the Carracci personalty and composed a treatise on
painting in which the trio, and especially Annibale, played the defining role.
Therefore, Faberio’s and Agucchi’s texts form the foundation of this study because
of the primacy of the biographical and theoretical information they contain.
T he Carracci were not alone in their quest to revitalize painting. Indeed,

many young artists active elsewhere in Itaty during the late Cinquecento were also
concerned about the state of the visual arts. In the 1570s, anti-Mannerist movements
surfaced independently in Florence, under the leadership of Santi di Tito (1536-
1603). In Milan, Giovanni Battista Crespi (ca. 1575-1623), known as II Cerano,
emulated the styles of artists active in Lombardy earlier in the century; and in Rome
in the 1590s, the style of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) began to cast
its dark shadow over much of Europe. But it is also important to note that in Venice
and its environs the maniera modema, which relied on the Central Italian precept of
disegno, had little sway over traditional interests in naturalism and colore (coiorism).7
W hile it is unlikely that students attending surveys of art history will ever hear about
the efforts of the countless minor painters who sought to distinguish themselves
from the many other conventional ones active in the late-sixteenth century, the
achievements of the Carracci are memorable because o f the qualities of their works
and the efforts that historians have made to promote them for more than four
centuries.
My interests in the artists’ education—the corso through which they learned to

master their trade—is based on a reading of Vasari’s Lives and an investigation of
7. See W alter Friedlaender, Mannerism and Anti-Mannerism in Italian Painting (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1957); Jack Spalding, “Santi di Tito and the Reform of Florentine
Mannerism,” Storia delTArte XLVII (1983), pp. 41-52; and Charles Hope, “The Historians of
Venetian Painting,” in The Genius o f Venice, 1500-1600, exh. cat. ed. by Jane Martineau and
Charles Hope, London, Royal Academy of Arts (London : Royal Academy of Arts with
6
other members of the Carracci family. Although specialists have had limited success
linking the Carracci with Bolognese humanists, none have considered the role of
Carlo Carracci, the artists’ uncle, who wrote learned treatises on flood control and
architecture and was well known to the literati and even the Pope.
T he most difficult task scholars face is determining the authorship of the

many works the Carracci left unsigned and then arranging them in a chronological
sequence among the few autograph examples. Since Annibale’s oeuvre is relatively
well documented, identifying and dating his pictures is somewhat easier than it is for
Ludovico. Annibale painted three major altarpieces during the first half of the 1580s:
two in Bologna, the Crucifixion w ith the Virgin and Saints (Bologna, Santa Maria della
Carita) and the Baptism o f Christ (Bologna, San Gregorio, fig. 32), dated 1583 and 1585
respectively; and one in Parma, the Pieta with Saints (Parma, Galleria Nazionale, fig.
119), also dated 1585. Those who are familiar with his career know that the Butcher’s
Shop (Oxford, Christ Church, fig. 40), prized for its “realism” and technical bravura,
also dates from his youth, as do various paintings that show his keen observation of
nature. O n the other hand, Ludovico’s earliest datable altarpieces, the Conversion o f
Saint Paul, commissioned in 1587,** and the Madonna dei Bargellini, inscribed 1588,9
were executed several years after Annibale’s first public works. He had, however,
already produced numerous private devotional paintings, including an altarpiece—the
Annunciation10—for a religious society, and had brought to completion in 1584 a
fresco frieze, in the Palazzo Fava, representing the story of Jason and the Argonauts,
in which his cousins were involved.
In the modem literature, Ludovico existed in Annibale’s shadow and, like a

sapling in the shade of an oak, his early years are thought to have been slow in growth
and colorless. The chronology that scholars assign to his works reflect this
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984), pp. 38-40.
8. See Ludovico Carracd, exh. cat. ed. by Andrea Emiliani et aL, Bologna, Museo Civico
Archeologico and Pinacoteca Nazionale—Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum (Bologna: Nuova
Alfa Editoriale, 1993), pp. 42-43, no. 19, ill.
9. See Bologna/Fort Worth 1993, pp. 48-50, no. 22, ill. The altarpiece originally decorated a
chapel in the Convertite in via Lama (today Santa Maria del Buon Pastore). Ludovico also
frescoed the lateral walls of the chapel with quadratura and religious scenes (among them the
Virgin Offering the Carmelite H abit to die Profit Elijah and the Dream o f Saint Gregory), and
covered the vault with angels dispersing flowers, perhaps like the ones hovering in the
altarpiece, seen “disottoinsu .
10. See Gail Feigenbaum, “The Early Histoiy of Lodovico Carracci’s Annunciation Altar-piece,”
Burlington Magazine CXXXII (1990), pp. 616-22.
7
perception, beginning with a mediocre painting, the Mystic Marriage o f Saint

Catherine (Bologna, Private Collection, fig. n), which scholars date no earlier than
1582/83, when Annibale was already painting masterpieces. In chapter four, “The
Ox’s Tale”, I reconsider the current scheme and propose a new one based on the
early sources and visual evidence. Archival evidence provides additional information
that is helpful; guild records, for instance, established Ludovico’s artistic proficiency
by 1578. Ludovico painted in a courtly style based on his fascination with the
paintings of Francesco Mazzuoli (1503-1540), that is Parmigianino. For wealthy,
conservative nobles and religious orders, Ludovico’s canvases embodied grace and
refinement, whereas Annibale’s were criticized as being harsh and unpolished. Of
course, it is the directness of Annibale’s paintings that viewers admire nowadays
while they find Ludovico overly stylized.
Understanding the artists’ works is one thing, but discovering their artistic
intentions and interests is yet another. Two letters by Annibale provide insights into
how he judged paintings by past masters and related to the canon that Giorgio Vasari
devised. The letters, sent to Ludovico from Parma in 1580, form the basis for
chapter five, where I examine their content, the role travel played in the artists’
development, the practice o f making copies, and the artistic atmosphere in Parma
when the Carracci visited. No one dominated the visual culture of Parma more that
Antonio Allegri (ca. 1489-1534), better known as Correggio. According to a
longstanding tradition, Annibale revived Correggio’s style, painting several important
altarpieces that were both iyricaliy beautiful and naturalistic. The first and most
famous of these is the Pieta w ith Saints of 1585, which was made for the high-altar of
the Capuchin Church in Parma. The painting is remarkable in Annibale’s oeuvre
because it has little in common stylistically and technically with the paintings
produced before it, such as Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saints and Baptism o f Christ.
Scholars have been hard pressed to explain the differences, often proposing
convoluted solutions when m uch simpler answers exist. Actually, the fundamental
premise that Correggio’s works were unappreciated when Annibale arrived in Parma
is disputable. As I will propose in my discussion of the Pieta, Annibale seems to
have deliberately adopted a Correggesque idiom because of the nature of the
commission and the harsh criticisms his “raw”, earlier paintings had received in
Bologna, where just a few years before, a major altarpiece by the Roman painter
Federico Zuccaro had been attacked and then removed for similar reason.
8
T he life of a printmaker in the Seicento was quite different from that of a

painter. Obviously, their crafts produced quite disparate results through divers
means; moreover, they catered to different markets (one vast, the other small by
comparison) and worked under different pressures. Printmaking became a medium
of personal expression for many artists only in the twentieth century, when
photography replaced it as the method o f illustrating the world. Before then, artists
rarefy made etchings or engravings for themselves or for a small audience. It is not
surprising, therefore, that, beginning in the last century, scholars believed that
Agostino made prints after Venetian paintings and pictures by Correggio to
disseminate the Carracci Reform across the Italian Peninsula and even further. But
this notion has no basis in the competitive and expensive, but profitable, market that
existed for prints in the sixteenth century. As I will demonstrate in chapter six,
Agostino was not a creative printmaker like his brother, who experimented with
etching and drypoint. H e only made engravings. Far from evoking in his
reproductive engravings the shimmering effects of light and color characteristic of
North Italian painting, Agostino employed the rather limited techniques of a
commercial printmaker, which nonetheless produced a multiplicity of good
impressions upon printing. H e did, however, use his burin like a painter uses a
brush: as a means to make money. I will examine Agostino’s relationship with print
publishers first in Bologna during the 1570s and then in Venice beginning, most
likely, in 1582 or 1583.
Apparendy Agostino had litde or no place in Ludovico’s workshop until the

Jason Cycle in the Palazzo Fava, their largest project of the early eighties, brought
them together. Completed in 1584, the fresco frieze was one of several, similar
commissions Count Filippo Fava granted the Carracci. Those undertakings are the
main subject of chapter seven, where I also discuss Annibale’s Pieta with Saints.
Count Fava’s generous patronage offered a forum where the Carracci could
demonstrate their inventiveness, technical skills, and teamwork. W ith the
introduction of seven new drawings for the Jason Frieze I hope to clarify further the
nature of their collaborative efforts.
Art lovers have long considered the Carracci historically important and their
■works beautiful. But the ■writings of two famous biographers who lived in the
seventeenth century and represent two different schools-of-thought have had the
greatest effect on how scholars have perceived the Carracci. In 1672, the Roman
historian Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1613-1696) chronicled the lives of Annibale and
9
Agostino in Le vite de’pittori, scultori e architetti modemi.11 Scholars familiar with the
book may be surprised at how rarefy I refer to it in this study, but I have good reasons
for this. Bellori focused primarily on the brothers’ mature works, specifically their
activities in the Papal City. H e hardly mentioned Ludovico, who visited Rome only
for two weeks in 1602. Moreover, Bellori mostly repeated information that had been
published elsewhere about the artists’ Bolognese years, adding surprisingly little,
accurate news. Indeed, it seems certain that he had never been to Bologna nor seen
any earfy paintings by the Carracci when he wrote his book.
Nonetheless, in his vita o f Annibale, Bellori developed further a crucial point

that he had expressed fifteen years earlier in the preface to a book of engravings after
the artist’s frescoes in the galleria Famese. Annibale “is now first ranked,” Bellori
wrote, and “he is likely to remain the last in our time to have brought art to a point of
consummate perfection.”12 W ere it not for the exceptional insights o f another
author, it seems possible that Bellori’s opinion would have remained unquestioned
owing to the accessibility of Annibale’s Roman works, the impact they had on
famous artists from Domenichino and Nicolas Poussin to Anton Mengs, and the
authority of his Roman biographers, above all Bellori himself.
Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1616-1693), however, wrote more about the earfy years
of the Carracci than anyone had before or has since. A lengthy and complex book,
his Felsinapittrice, Vite de’pittori bofogpesi..., published in 1678, is a collection of the
lives of Bolognese painters and printmakers presented in roughly chronological order
from antiquity until the mid-seventeenth century, with the greatest attention given to
artists active after 1500 and pride-of-place saved for the Carracci, whose “vita"
occupies most of part three. Malvasia’s “Vita dei Carracci" is much longer than the
combined lengths of Bellori’s biographies of Annibale and Agostino, though this is
partially explained by the inclusion of Ludovico’s vita, which Bellori omitted.
11. Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Le vite de’p ittori, scultori e architetti modemi (Rome: Mascardi, 1672)
(idem, Le vite de’pittori, scultori e architettimodemi, ed. by Evelina Borea with an introduction by
Giovanni Previtali {Turin: G. Einaudi, 1976]).
12. Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Argomento della Galeria Famese dipinta da Annibale Carracci disegnata e
intagliata da Carlo Casio, nel qulale spiegansi e riduconiallegoricamente alia moralita le favole poeticbe
in essa rappresentate, Rome: n.p., 1657 Opt- i*1Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Felsinapittrice; vite de pittori
bolognest alia maesta christiamssima di Lvigi XHIL.xonsagrata dal co. Carlo Cesare Malvasia. con indict
in fine copiosissimi..., vol. 2 {Bologna: D. Barbieri, 1678}, p. 442 [transL: Anne Summerscale,
Malvasia s Life o f the Carracci: Commentary and Translation {University Park: The Pennsylvania
University Press, 2000}, p. 222]).
IO
Although Malvasia admired Bellori greatly, he strongly objected to some of

Bellori’s critical opinions about the respective merits of the Carracci and offered an
alternative view of their individual contributions to art history.1? Well aware of the
prejudices or “debased tastes” of his critics, Malvasia referred to the existence of a
“Roman scale of value” and to the “persistent resistance [ofother writers] to granting
Ludovico the fame he deserves, a desert if not greater at least equal to that of
Agostino and of Annibale”, that was the inexorable theme of their b i o g r a p h y . ^
Malvasia’s contextual approach to defending his thesis also departed

drastically from Bellori’s method and that of all previous historiographers. H e relied
on documents (letters, birth certificates, and contracts, often cited verbatim)and on
the testimonials of family members, friends, and students of his subjects, and he
made extensive use of previously published sources, including Bellori’s book, to
support his ideas. As Giovanna Perini noted, Malvasia’s “radical reform o f the very
structure o f biography is a decisive step towards a real history [sic] of art.”1?
Until the mid-1950s, scholars had relied largely on Bellori’s and Malvasia’s
biographies to construct their own accounts of the artists’ lives. Filippo Baldinucci
(1681-1728), Luigi Lanzi (1789), Angelo Foratti (1913), and Gabriel Rouches (1913),
among others, had little or no trouble accepting the factual information in Bellori’s
and Malvasia’s vite, such as the approximate dates of paintings, the chronology of
important events, and the attribution of specific works either to one or more of the
Carracci as the case may have been.1*’ This is not inappropriate since Bellori had
collected much information about Annibale and Agostino’s Roman periods and
13. Malvasia’s reference to Bellori in the Indice of the Felsina pittrice alone demonstrates the
esteem that he had for the Roman author and his work: “BeUori, Giovanni Pietro, eruditissimo
Autore (oltre tant’opre dottissime) delle Vite de’pittori, Scultori, e Architetti: dodici delle quali,
mentre sto aggiungendo questo Indice alfOpra mia gia stampata, veggo uscite alia luce, con sommo
contento, edapplauso di tuttT (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 2, p. XXVII).
14. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 487 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 348; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 299).
See also Giovanni Previtali, La fortuna dei prim itivt dal Vasari ai neoclassicci (Turin; Einaudi,
1964), pp. 53-64; and Giovanna Perini, “Carlo Cesare Malvasia’s Florentine Letters: Insights
into Conflicting Trends in Seventeenth-Century Italian Art Historiography,” A rt Bulletin LXX
(1988), pp. 273-99.
15. Ibid, p. 284.
16. Filippo Baldinucci, Notizie de'professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua,per le quali si dimostra come, e
per chi le belTarti dipittura, scultura, e arcbitettura lasciata la rozzezza delle maniere greca, e gottica, si
siano in questisecoli ridotte alTantica loroperftzione. Opera di Filippo Baldinucci Fiorentino dsstinta in
secoli, e atcennali, 6 vols. (Florence: Sand r ranchi, 1681-1728); Aldo Foratti, I Carracci nella teoria
e nellapractica (Citta di Castello: S. Lapi, 1913); and Gabriel Rouchds, La peinture bolonaise d la
II
Malvasia was a unique source for all matters regarding Ludovico’s life and the trio’s
activities in Bologna. In its general outline and tone, Malvasia’s account of Agostino
and Annibale’s years in the Papal City, in fact, is nearly identical to Bellori’s because
he used his book as a source and gratefully acknowledged doing so.
About a century ago scholars, led by Hans Tietze (1919), began questioning
Malvasia’s accuracy, claiming that he doctored or forged documents, letters, and
anecdotes to support his “biased” portrait of histoiy.U Sir Denis Mahon assumed a
similar position initially in his influential book Studies in Siecento A rt and Theory,
published 1947, and in articles that followed.1® In recent years, however, several
specialists have actively defended Malvasia’s scholarship (Charles Dempsey,
Elizabeth Cropper, Giovanna Perini, and Richard Spear, among them), which has
consistently proven to be a reliable and indispensable source on countless topics,
from the education of Bolognese artists to the burial rites of illustrious painters.^
I t was largely because of growing skepticism toward source material,

particularly that found in the Felsina, that opinions about the Carracci and their
importance began to change and depart from those views expressed in the
fin du XVIeme stick. Les Carracbes (Paris: Librairie F. Alcan, 1913).
17. See Hans Tietze, “Annibale Carraccis Galarie im Palazzo Farnese und seine romische
W erkstatte,” Jabrbucb der kunsthistoriscben Sammlungen des allerhocbsten Kaiserhauses XXVI
(1906/1907), pp. 49-182. Of course, in Bologna Malvasia was, and still is, a local hero—the
Bolognese Vasari, of sorts. His defenders there included the painters Giampietro Zanotri and
Luigi Crespi, in the eighteenth century, and, in the nineteenth century, the artists and
historians of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna, whose members actively sought to
preserve and clarify Bologna’s visual history and who considered themselves direct progeny of
th e Carracci Academy. Forgotten is the fact that in 1842, the academicians organized a
celebration marking the bicentenary of Guido Reni’s death inspired by a similar event held in
Dresden (of all places) in 1820 commemorating the death of Rapheal some three centuries
revious (See Malvasia ed. 1841, voL x, pp. 40-41, n. 1). But their greatest contribution to the
Eistory of art appeared in 1841, when they published the second, revised, and much expanded
version of the Felsina that scholars still use today in lieu of the rare first edition (See John
Chvostal, “Malvasia’s ‘Mis-Prints’ and His Contribution to Print Scholarship” in Dear Print
Fan, A Festschriftfor Marjorie B. Cohen [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Art Museums,
2002, pp. 63-67]$. Malvasia’s prose are notoriously difficult to navigate even for Italians, so the
very recent publication of an English translation of the life of the Carracci has made his work
much more accessible to most historians.
18. Denis Mahon, Studies in Siecento A rt and Theory (Studies o f the Warburg Institute XVI) (London,
University of London, 1947); idem, “Malvasia as a Source for Sources,” Burlington Magazine
C X X V lll (1986), pp. 790-95.
19. For excellent discussions of th e history of the problems associated with the Felsina pittrice
see Charles Dempsey, “Malvasia and the Problem of the Early Raphael and Bologna,” in
Raphael Before Rome (Studies in the History ofA rt V) (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art„
1986), pp. 57-70; and Cropper/Dempsey 1987, pw497- See also Elizabeth Cropper, Charles
Dempsey, and D. Stephen Pepper, An Exchange on the ‘State of Research in Italian 17th-
Century Painting,’”A rtB ulktin LXXI (1989), pp. 305-309.
12
seventeenth-century. The shift was slow at first, but as the years progressed new
attitudes evolved at an increasing pace with the proliferation of research on the
Carracci, which has itself changed in character.
Except for three fundamental articles by Heinrich Bodmer, Francesco

Malaguzzi Valeri, and Walter Friedlaender, written in the 1920s, little new
information had been published on the earfy years for nearly two-and-a-half
centuries.20 Bodmer paid little attention to the subject in his book on Ludovico
dating from 1939, which is still the only monograph about the painter.21 In his
exceptional review (1942) of Bodmer’s study, Friedlaender cited as its main flaw the
author’s failure to consider Ludovico “in relation to the other Carracci and against the
broad artistic, religious, and cultural background” of late-Cinquecento Bologna.22
The Mostra dei Carracci held in Bologna in 1956, however, launched a new
phase of Carracci scholarship that focused specifically on the artists’ activities during
the first half of the 1580s. I t included paintings, prints and drawings by Ludovico,
his two cousins, and Antonio Carracci (Agostino’s son), which were published in a
two-volume catalogue. 23 Many o f the oil paintings were cleaned and displayed
together under good conditions for the first time. And some, like Annibale’s
Butcher’s Shop (fig. 40), which until then had appropriately hung in a kitchen in Christ
Church, Oxford, could be studied up close, while others, such as Ludovico’s Sacrifice
20. Heinrich Bodmer, “Die Jugendwerke Annibale Carraccis,” ZeitscbriftjurBildende Kunst LVIII
(1924), pp. 104-13; Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri, “La giovinezza di Lodovico Carracci,” Cronacbe
dA rte I (1924), pp. 15-45; and W alter Friedlaender, Contributo alia cronologia e all’iconografia
di Lodovico Carracci,” Cronacbe eTarte ill (1926), pp. 133-44.
21. Heinrich Bodmer, Lodovico Carracci (Burg: M. A. Hopfer, 1939). Gail Feigenbaum’s dissertation
“Ludovico Carracci: A Study of his Later Career ana a Catalogue of His Paintings,” Ph.D. diss.,
Princeton University, 1984, focused, as its title suggests, on the artist’s mature activities and
his paintings. A revised form of her work is slatedfor publication in the near future.
22. Walter Friedlaender, Review of Ludovico Carracci, by Heinrich Bodmer, in A rt Bulletin XXIV
(1942), pp. 190-95.
23. Mostra dei Carracci: catalogs critico, exh. cat. ed. by Gian Carlo Cavalli et al. with a note by
Denis Mahon and an intro, essay by Cesare Gnudi, Bologna, Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio
(Bologna: Alfa, 1956); and Mostra di Carracci: Disegni, exh. cat. ea. by Denis Mahon and transl. by
Maunzio Cahresi, Bologna, Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio (Bologna: Alfa, 195$. For reviews of the
exh. see Maria Vittoria Brugnoli, “Note alia Mostra dei Carracci,” BoUetdno tfarte XLI (1956),
p p . 356-60; Michael Jaffe, ‘T h e Carracci Exhibition at Bologna,” The Burlington Magazine
XCVIII (1956), pp. 392-401; Hermann Voss, “Die Mostra dei Carracci Bologna 1956,”
Kunstcbrordk XI (1956), pp. 317-323; and Denis Mahon, “Afterthoughts on the Carracci
Exhibition,” Gazette des Beaux-.Arts CXL and CXLI (1957), p p . 193-207 and 267-98.
i3
o f Isaac from the Musei Vaticani, were exhumed from museum store rooms, thus
ending semi-obscurity for both the artists’ formative years and their youthful works.
Since 1956 the interests o f art historians studying the Carracci have reflected
those of scholars investigating Italian Renaissance and Baroque art more generally,
with great emphasis placed on analyzing critically the previous scholarship
(particularly the earliest sources), resolving issues of attribution and chronology,
clarifying contemporary art theory, and understanding the society in which artists
functioned. And, as with other areas of art-historical research, archival discoveries,
newly found works, and the application of interdisciplinary methods have greatly
expanded our knowledge of the period.
Indeed, a number of major scholarly works published over the past forty-five
years have influenced the course of my own research. These include monographic
studies such as Stephen OstroVs unpublished dissertation on Agostino (1966), and
Donald Posner’s two-volume book Annibale Carracci: A Study in the Reform o f Italian
Painting Around 1590, which began as a dissertation and remains the single most
important study of the artist’s activities despite its emphasis on Annibale’s maturity.^
It also contains a catalogue raisonne, which is now much outdated. Patrick J. Cooney
and Gianfranco Malafarina’s Annibale Carracci: Uopera completa (1976) is a surprisingly
useful, if often-overlooked work .25 In a ground-breaking study, Anton Boschloo
(1974) addressed some of the socio-cultural factors that shaped Annibale’s formative
years, bringing to light many parallels between works by Annibale and Counter-
Reformation thought.26 More recent treatments have taken the form of exhibitions
and catalogues such as Diane DeGrazia Bohlin’s Prints and Related Drawings o f the
Carracci Family (i979).27 Bobgna 1584 (1984), which gathered together the Carracci’s
24. Steven Ostrow, “Agostino Carracci,” Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1966; and Posner 1971.
25. Patrick J. Cooney and Gianfranco Malafarina, L’opera completa di Annibale Carracci (Milan:
Rizzoli Editore, 1976).
26. Anton W. A. Boschloo, Annibale Carracci in Bologna: Visible Reality in A rt A fter the Council o f
Trent, 2 vols., Gravenhage: Staatsdmkkerij, 1974.
27. Prints and Related Drawings by the Carracci Family. A Catalogue Raisonne, exh. cat. by Diane
DeGrazia Bohlin, Washington, D.C, National Gallery of Art (Bloomington and London:
Indiana University Press, 1979) (rev. and exp. ItaL ed., Le stampi dei Carracci con i disegni, le
incisioni, le copie i dipinti comtessi. Catalog) cntico, transL and ed. Antonio Boschetto, Bologna,
Palazzo Pepoli—Campogrande {Bologna: Edizioni Alfa, 1984]); and Correggio and His Legacy:
Sixteenth-Century Emiuan Drawings, exh. cat. by Diane DeGrazia, Washington, D.C, National
Gallery of Art (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1984).
Bolognese paintings and canvases of their contemporaries, did not alter insights into
the earfy period.2** T he same can be said of The Age o f Correggio and the Carracci
(1986).*9
"Writings on academies, art theory, and the education of artists have yielded
some o f the most provocative interpretations of the earfy period. Charles Dempsey’s
book Annibale Carracci and the Beginnings o f the Baroque Style (1977) dealt with the
concept of eclecticism.3° Carl Goldstein’s examination of the Carracci’s art theory
and practice was, however, far less successful (i988).3I Robert Zapperi’s short book,
Annibale Carracci: Ritratto diartista da giovane (1989), specifically concentrated on the
earfy period and presented a series of essays on the subject based on new archival
evidence. 32 Ann Sutherland Harris and Gail Feigenbaum have published the most
innovative reviews of the artists’ drawings and working practices. Based on careful
visual analysis, Feigenbaum suggested that the Carracci occasionally exchanged
drawings and that some preparatory studies may not be by the same hand as the
paintings to which they relate .33 Sutherland Harris has also proposed changes in both
attribution and chronology of drawings by the Carracci in two recent articles. In the
first she reattributed to Ludovico a number of famous drawings long given to
Annibale and in the other she examined Agostino’s pen drawings some o f which I
had discovered and shared with her .34
28. Bologna 1584: gli csordi dei Carracci c gU affrcscbidi Palazzo Fava, exh. cat. with an intro, essay by
Anarea Emiliani and entries by Luigi Spezzaforro e t aL, Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale
(Bologna: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1984).
29. Washington/ New York 1986.
30. Charles Dempsey, Annibale Carracci and die Beginnings o f the Baroque Style (Villa I T atti Studies
I I I ) (Gluckstadt:J. J. Augustin Verlag, 1977).
31. Carl Goldstein, Visual Fact over Verbal Fiction: A Study o f the Carracci and the Criticism. Theory
and Practice o f A rt in Renaissance and Baroque Italy (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1988).
32. Roberto Zapperi, Annibale Carracci. Ritratto di artista da giovane (Turin: Einaudi, 1989).
33. Gail Feigenbaum, “Drawing and Collaboration in the Carracci Academy,” in Essays Honoring
Irving Lavin on His Sixtieth Birthday (New York: Italica Press, 1990), pp. 145-65; idem, “When
th e Subject was Art: The Carracci as Copyists,” in II Luogp ed il ruolo della cittd d i Bologna tra
Europa Continentale e mediterranea (Acts o f the Colloquium C L H A ., 1990), pp. 297-309 (Bologna,
1992); and idem, “Practice in the Carracci Academy, The A rtist’s Workshop (Studies in the History
o f A rt XXXVIII), pp. 59-76 (Washington, D. C.: National Gallery o f Art, 1993).
34. Ann Sutherland Harris, “Ludovico, Agostino, Annibale: ‘...l’abbiam fatta tutti noi’,” Accademia
Clementina: A tti e memorie XXX-XXXIV (1994), pp. 69-84; idem, “Agostino Carracci’s Inventions:
Pen-And-Ink Studies, 1582-1602,” Master Drawtnp XXXVIII (2000), pp. 393-423.
i5
As a student, perhaps the greatest challenge initially for me was seeing during
the course of my research the paintings, prints, and drawings that the Carracci
produced. Fortunately, several exhibitions were in America and Europe offered me
exceptional opportunities not only to see the works but also speak with specialists in
the field. T he first of these was a retrospective exhibition of Ludovico’s paintings
held in Bologna and Fort W orth in 1993 whose catalogue contained substantial
entries and generous essays focusing on the artist .35 In 1994, Catherine Loisel
Legrand organized at the Louvre a show of drawings by the Carracci and their
circle.36 The Drawings o f Annibale Carracci, at the National Gallery in 1999-2000 was
the combined effort of an expert committee that included Diane D e Grazia,
Catherine Loisel Legrand, Daniele Benati, Gail Feigenbaum, and Aidan Weston-
Lewis.37
In an article entitled “Sugli inizi dei Carracci” published at the time o f the
M ostra in 1956, Francesco Arcangeli took comfort in the fact that so little was known
about the activities of the Carracci before 1585/86, delighting in the rich prospects
that the subject could offered future scholars.38 Indeed, since Arcangeli’s time, the
formative years of the Carracci have occupied art historians continuously. But the
limited results of those investigations belie the richness of the period, one that Lucio
Faberio thus characterized in Agostino’s eulogy: “There is much truth to saying that
beginnings are greater in possibilities than in size, and thus it is very important with
what foundations a building is begun”.
35. Bologna/Fort Worth, 1993.
36. Le dessin a Bolome, 1580-1620. La reforme des trots Carracci, exh. cat. by Catherine Loisel Legrand,
Paris, Mused du Louvre (Paris: Reunion des museds narionaux, 1994).
37. T bt Drawings o f Annibale Carracci, exh. cat. by Daniele Benati et aL, Washington, D.C,
National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C: National Gallery of Art, 1999).
38. “Ma mi conforta il pensiero che, per quegli anni prima e poco dopo il 1585 che interesseranno
in particolare la mia ricerca, le fond antiche e moderne sono, sostanzialmente, pressochd
silenziose, o fuorvianti; tanto che nemmeno quelle, pur benintenzionate e lodevolmente
volonterose, che avrebbero dovuto specialisticamente dedicarvisi portano lumi important!
sull'argomento” (Francesco Arcangeli, Sugli inizi dei Carracci,” Paragone CXXIX {1956}, p. 18).
CHAPTER TW O
T h e En d
DEATH
Traveler, here lies Agostino Carracci, whose great deeds you already know,
though only by reputation, for this is the man who, in painting others,
immortalized himself in his pictures. He painted in such a way that tnough he
is dead there is no mortal in whose memory he does not live. (From
Agostino’s epitaph by Claudio Achillini)1
n January 18, 1603, the citizens of Bologna witnessed a spectacular funeral
O for Agostino Carracci who had, in fact, died at the age of forty-five in a
monastery in Parma more than a year prior to the ceremony.
sought refuge with the Cappuccini padri a few months before his death and
“devoted himself to the contemplation of heavenly things” and penitence.2 T he
H e had
artist had been overcome with memories of past faults and deeply depressed for
some time, as his eulogist, Lucio Faberio, explained in sympathetic detail to the
luminaries attending the memorial mass.3 Many of Agostino’s problems resulted
from disputes that he had had with Annibale while the two worked side-by-side in
the Palazzo Famese in Rome.
Even as youths, Agostino and Annibale wrestled with such differences, but
the strong feelings of dtsgusto and mortificazione that the brothers felt in the Papal
1. C. Achillini, transc. in B. Morello, forward to II Funerale dAgostin Carracciofatto in Bologna sua

patria da gTIncaminati Academia del Disegno scritto alTIll.mo et Rjno Sigf Cardinal Famese
(Bologna: Vittorio Benacci, 1603), p. 21 (rpt. in Bellori 1672, p. 112 {Bellori ed. 1976, p. 123}; and
Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 422 {Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 305; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 197]).
z L. Faberio, “Orazione di Lutio Faberio Academico Gelato in morte d’Agostin Carraccio”, in

Bologna 1603, p. 42 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 432 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 311; transL:
Summerscale 2000, p. 208D.
3. Ibid.
16
City ultimately left both emotionally distraught and compelled Agostino to leave
Rome for Bologna, possibly by July 1599.4 Later Annibale wrote to Ludovico about,
“the unbearable pedantry of Agostino, who was never happy with whatever I was
doing, always finding some bits of shell in the egg, interrupting me at work and
upsetting me. Besides,” Annibale concluded, “he got in my way and disturbed me
by constantly bringing poets, writers of novels, and courtiers up onto the scaffolding,
which was the reason why he did not work, nor let the others do so ....”5
Apparently, after their troubles in Rome, the brothers never spoke to one
another again.6 Agostino went to Parma (after stopping in Bologna) and began a
series of mythological frescoes in the Palazzo del Giardino for Duke Ranuccio
Famese (1569-1622). But knowing that he was mortally ill, the artist abandoned that
project and retired to the monastery where he painted as an act of devotion two
4. Writing a decade or so afterward, the Roman biographer Giulio Mancini described the
problems as follows: “Molt’anni prima mori in Parma il signor Agostino ai servitij di quel
Serenissimo, essendo stato in Roma per condur la galleria di Famese con il fratello; dove
nacquer alcuni digusti, parte seminati e nutriti da malevoli, parte ancor per qualche po’
d’emulatione poicne, per quanto si potfe congetturare, Aniballe [fir] voleva la gloria di
quell’opra per sfe; che, standovi il signor Agostino, ancorchfe non potesse molt’operar a fresco
per la sua dificolta di rispirare, nondimeno quel poco che operava era di profomussimo sapere,
come si vede in alcune cose condotte da esso in quella gallaria, che sono sopra le finestre
verso flume e, quel ch’fe piu, era huomo di singolarissimo giuditio che, qualsivogli minimo
error, subito lo riconosceva, et al fratello, che amava svisceratissimamente, stando a veder
operare, le diceva qualche cosa, mal volentier sentita da Anniballe £r*r], o che non fusse vera o
che non volesse questa superiority. Onde, disgustati insieme, Agostin {«c] se n’andd a Parma e
men6 seco un fanciulletto suo figlio [Antonio], al quale non potb communicar altro che
l’inclination naturale all’arte; che amandolo cordialissimamente, nella morte per lettere lo
raccomandd al fratello, quale pentito, come credo, de’ disgusti dati al fratello, convert! l’amore
in questo suo nipote” (Giulio Mancini, Qmsiderazioni sulla Pittura, eds. Adriana Marucchi and
Luigi Salerno [Rome: Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, 1956-57], vol. 1, pp. 217-18). Likewise, the
painter Giovanni Baglione wrote: “Ma per non esser tra di loro molto d’accordo, si risolse egli
di dividersi dal fratello, sicche abbandonando la citta di Roma, a Bologna sua patria
ritornossene, e qui ad Annibale lascid il compire quella mirabile galleria” (G. Baglione, Le vite
de'pittori, scvlton et architetti. D al pontificato di Gregprio X III. del ifli. In fino a’tempi di Papa
Vrbano Ottauo net 1642. Scritte da Gto. Baglione Romano e dedicate all'eminentissimo, e reuerendissimo
principe Girolamo Card. Colonna [Rome: Andrea Fei, 1642], p. 107). See also Bellori 1672, pp. 31
and h i (Bellori ed. 1976, pp. 43-44 and 122-23); and especially Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, pp. 403-4
(Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, pp. 294-95). For a discussion of the date of Agostino’s departure from
Rome see Roberto Zapperi, Eros e Controriforma. Preistoria della galleria Famese (Bologna:
Bollati Boringhieri, 1994), p. 122. For details regarding Agostino and Annibale’s move to Rome
see idem, “Tne Summons of the Carracci to Rome: Some New Documentary Evidence,”
Burlington Magazine CXXVIII (1986), pp. 203-5; and idem 1994, pp. 98-99.
5. Lost, undated letter from Annibale Carracci in Rome to Ludovico Carracci in Bologna
presumably written after July 1599, when Agostino had departed from Rome (transc. in
Malvasia 1678, vol 1, p. 404 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 295; transL: Summerscale 2000, p.
4 ° 4D-
6. Soon after Agostino’s death Annibale suffered a well-documented mental breakdown, from
which he never fully recovered. See Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, pp. 442-46 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1,
pp. 318-22).
i8
religious pictures expressing his inner torment: a Weeping St. Peter and a Head o f Christ
sketched on a piece of black satin and left unfinished at his death on February 23,
1 6 0 2 .7 It was a solitary end to an otherwise brilliant public career, one that had
flowered in Bologna under Ludovico’s leadership and one that would be documented
for posterity because of the activities immediately preceding Agostino’s death.
Although Agostino died a lonely man and had been interred in the Cathedral
of Parma soon after his last breath, the members of the Carracci Academy, many of
whom were gifted painters themselves, were determined to celebrate his
achievements. Together with some of Bologna’s most distinguished literati, they
orchestrated a funeral as lavish as the one the Accademia del Disegno had held for
Michelangelo Buonarroti in Florence in 1564. T he parallels between the two events
were undeniably deliberate. Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) dutifully recorded the
circumstances surrounding Michelangelo’s funeral in the second edition of his
monumental Le vite de’piu eccellentipittori, scultori e architetti modemi..., published in
1568.8 And although the regulations, of the Bolognese academy are lost, its members
clearly shared the same values as their Florentine counterparts who, according to
Vasari, “were obliged by virtue of their statutes to pay due honour to the death of any
of their brethren ”.9 Using the detailed descriptions of Michelangelo’s funeral as
their model, the Bolognese academicians had made elaborate provisions in the
church o f the Ospedale della Morte, a popular gathering place for artists that was
spacious enough for storing and arranging the decorations once they had been
completed.
7. Both works are now lost.
8. Vasari described Michelangelo’s funeral in great detail. The interior of the church was
decorated with a large catafalque covered with sculptures bearing torches, epigraphs, a
pyramidal apex topped with a ball, and with other details comparable to those employed in
Agostino’s nineraL See Giorgio Vasari, Le vite de’pittori, scultori e architetti modemi, Florence:
Giunti, 1568, vol 3, pt. 3b, chapt. 155 (“Vita di Micbelangolo Buonarruoti Fiorentino pittore, scuttore,
& arcbitettore”), pp. 782-96. See also Margot and Ruaolf Wittkower, The Divine Michelangelo:
The Florentine Academy's Homage on His Death in 1564 (London: Phaidon, 1964).
9. See Vasari 1568, voL 3, pt. 3b, chapt. 155 (“Vita d i Micbelangolo Buonarruoti Fiorentino pittore,
scultore, &anbitettore”), p. 780 (transL: G. Vasari, Lives o f die Painter, Sculptures, and Architects,
transl. by G. du C. de Vere with intro, and notes by David Ekserdjian, New York and Toronto,
1996, vol 2, pp. 747-48). See also Charles Dempsey, “Some Observation on the Education of
Artists in Florence and Bologna During the Later Sixteenth Century,” A rt Bulletin LXII
(1980), pp. 552-53. The Bolognese academicians were also involved in the funeral of Denys
Calvaert in 1619 (See “Vita d i Diomsto Calvaert e di Vincenzo Spisani, Gabriele Ferrantini, Pier
M aria da Crevalcore, Gio. Battista Bertusio suoidiscepolie altrT , in Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 202).
19
Once in place, the visual program must have been impressive. T he

Academy’s coat-of-arm (fig. i), painted on a large shield, hung over the entrance to
the church where it was visible to the crowd that gathered outdoors. Inside, the
personal emblem of the Carracci family appeared on countless plaques hung on the
walls, illuminated by flaming urns of simulated marble. T he somber decorations were
set against black cloth draping the walls from ceiling to floor and a colossal catafalque
in the form of a pillar atop a pedestal stood in the apse of the chiesa. Like the
temporary monument constructed for Michelangelo’s mass in Florence, the column
was embellished with allegorical statues, pseudo-hieroglyphics, and paintings that
glorified Agostino’s many achievements.10 And like the sculptor’s funeral, which
Lorenzo de’ Medici sponsored, the ceremony for Agostino would have been
impossible were it not for the generosity of a noble underwriter, the brother of the
Duke of Parma, Cardinal Odoardo Famese (1573-1626), who had lured Agostino and
Annibale to Rome in November of 1595. That act permanently ended the close ties
between the brothers and Ludovico, who remained in Bologna. Ironically, however,
Odoardo’s patronage insured that the trio would be remembered as a triumvirate
perpetually.
“J SOLI RESTITU TORI DEL VEROMODO DEL DIPINGERET:

T H E FERTILE SEEDS OF AN IDEA
In honoring the memory of their fellow academician Agostino Carracci with a

solemn funeral, the academicians of design of Bologna {.Academia del dtfe^no]
known as the Incaminati also honored tnemseives with this token or tneir
exceptional devotion to their friend and this demonstration of perfect artistic
judgment and magnificent liberality, in which they not only surpassed all the
expectations of the public, but advanced their own powers. (Benedetto
Morello)11
t was Agostino’s death that gave birth to the vast body of literature regarding
I the Carracci and their Reform. The idea that the trio were “restitutort” or
“riformatori” first surfaced in print in a small, commemorative volume entitled
10. See Olga Berendsen, “The I talian Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Catafalques” (PhD.
diss., New York University, 1961), pp. 37-38, who noted that Agostino’s catafalque was based
losely on ancient Roman memorial columns of the type that Alberti described in De re
aedificatoria. These, Berendsen noted, were of the Doric order, with depictions of scenes
from the life of the deceased along the shaft.
11. Morello in Bologna 1603, p. 3 (rpt. in Bellori 1672, p. 119 IBellori ed. 1976, p. 133]; and Malvasia
1678, voL 1, p. 409 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 299; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 180D.
II Fvnerale d’Agostin Carraccio..., published in Bologna in 1603 soon after the
ceremony.12 It is not surprising that this immensely important booklet, containing
the earliest printed references to the Carracci, was modeled on the panegyrics that
Benedetto Varchi (1503-1565) had written in praise of Michelangelo.^ Varchi’s
Orazione was the first and, until 1603, the only memoria honoring a deceased artist.
Every seventeenth-century author who wrote about the Carracci consulted the
volume dedicated to Agostino and mined it for information. During the Seicento,
Bellori (1672) and Malvasia (1678) reprinted extracts verbatim in their respective vite
of the Carracci, but because modem editions of those later publications are available,
scholars rarely consult the original booklet.^
T he volume consists of three parts, beginning with a detailed description of

the funerary decorations by Benedetto Morello, who referred to his “long and very
close friendship” with Agostino and furnished all of the details know about the actual
ceremony. Morello’s piece also contains illustrations by Francesco Brizio (1575-1623)
and Guido Reni (1575-1642) of the monuments, paintings, and symbols made for the
event.1* A copy of Lucio Faberio’s eulogy delivered that day is also included. It
constitutes an extraordinary and authoritative character study. Faberio extolled
Agostino’s life, art, and intellectual interests, and stressed that the artist possessed
sincere philosophical ambitions. He discussed in detail the promise of Agostino’s
childhood, his apprenticeships, and how the three Carracci (“very young men then
with the highest expectations”) founded the Academy. He described, too, the
activities of the institution in considerable depth, although does not clarify when the
curriculum of anatomical study and drawing from models and “all created things”
began. Faberio extolled Agostino’s propensity for music, philosophy, mathematics,
perspective, and geography, casting him as a man of great learning and versatility, but
the eulogist’s comments on the origin of Agostino’s style (his modus operandi) are
especially informative for our purposes. “I shall rest my argument on one single thing
concerning the great mind o f Carracci,” Faberio stated, “and this is that in his
12. See note 2 above for the full reference.
13. Benedetto Varchi, Orazione funerak fa tta e recitata da lu i publicamente nelle esequie di
Michelangelo Buonarrotiin Firenze nella Cbiesa di S. Lorenzo (Florence: Giund, 1564).
14. See Bellori 1672, pp. 119-31 (Bellori ed. 1976, pp. 133-45); and Malvasia 1678, voL 1, pp.407-25
(Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, pp. 299-306).
15. Contrary to most accounts the prints are etchings and not engravings, except for the
21
honored profession he was a judicious imitator [giudiciojb imitatore} of natural and

artificial things [delle naturali, <&artificiali cose] and thus merited his fame as a great
and admired painter.”16 This quotation was an important summation that Faberio
used as a transition to his descriptions of paintings by Agostino, works that showed
both a fidelity to nature and idealized qualities. Somewhat later in the orazione, in a
well-known passage, Faberio elaborated upon that statement, explaining that
Agostino consolidated and perfected various maniere taken from the great masters of
the High Renaissance, a practice now associated with Ludovico and Annibale as well
and one central to their art:
In matters of art, he [Agostino] proceeded in a similar way by imitating

what was best [im itar le partt migliori], never committing himself
completely to the style [tnaniera] or any one painter however great he
might have been: for it was his belief that no painter whose final goal
was to imitate [imitare] the example of another painter had ever
succeeded in matching him, much less surpassing him. This was also
recognized by Daniello Ricciarelli [da Volterra}, Perino del Vaga, and
others, who in setting their sights on Michelangelo, never reached
their goal, and Michelangelo himself, in following the style {maniera} of
Apollonios of Athens, who made the torso of Hercules that can be
seen in the Belvedere in Rome, was never able to equal that ancient
work, in the opinion of knowledgeable people. This was the case with
Giulio Romano and others who wanted to equal Raphael by imitating
him [iraltri che volfero (imitando) pareggiar Raffaello}, and although they
turned out to be highly esteemed masters, they nonetheless fell very
short of the goal they had set themselves. The aim of our Carracci was
to gather together the perfections found in many artists, and to reduce
these to one harmonious entity that left nothing to be desired. But
alas, while the results of this were beginning to measure up to his
ultimate aspirations, importunate death carried him away. Yet in the
work which he left us, one clearly sees the boldness and sureness of
Michelangelo, the softness and delicacy of Titian, the grace and
majesty of Raphael, the loveliness and facility o f Correggio, to whose
perfections ne added his rare and unusual inventions and
compositional ideas, and with these works he was to give and will
continue to give other painters norm and example of everything that is
needed by an exceptional and perfect painter.I7
From our distant perspective, informed as it is by values different from

Faberio’s, the passage above conjures up visions o f Doctor Frankenstein’s monster or
a chimera—of artistic hybrids composed of odd bits and pieces. But Faberio meant
frontispiece.
16. Faberio in Bologna 1603, p. 36 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, vol 1, p. 428 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p.
309; transl: Summerscale 2000, p. 203]).
17. Ibid., p. 40 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, vol 1, p. 431 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 310; transl:
22
to evoke just the opposite image, seeing in Agostino’s paintings the application of
lessons learned from the finest models. Thus in Faberio’s description of Agostino
most famous painting, the Last Communion o f St. Jerome (Bologna, Pinacoteca
Nazionale), painted in the 1590 s, Faberio explained to his audience that they would
“perceive an epitome—indeed a compendium of all the perfections that I have just
spoken of, and the many others that are not easily expressed in words.” Faberio
praised the composition, the decorum of the figures, their wonderful a ffetti or
sentiments, their anatomical accuracy, and the beautiful rendering of flesh and
drapery. H e concluded, “Here you will see landscape, perspective, architectural
structures, and the clear signs of the natural and moral philosophy [della naturale, &
m oralfibfofia\ that he was versed in—in short, a perfect model [vn perfetto modetlo}
created by a rare painter.”18
Denis Mahon showed that Faberio based his description of Agostino’s

approach on a passage in Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo’s Trattato delFarte della pittura,
scoltura, et architectural published in Milan in i584.I9 For Mahon, this proved that the
orazione itself was, “no more than a clever literary adaptation culled from another
publication” rather than an accurate description of Agostino’s attitude or doctrine.20
His views have never been directly challenged since he presented them in 1953.
Instead, Michael Kitson strongly endorsed them in a recent catalogue of Mahon’s
collection.21 But, as a man of letters and a professional notary, Faberio was well
versed in ars dictaminis and ars notariae, both o f which are systems of formulaic
composition grounded in rhetorical conventions. Besides Lomazzo’s book, Faberio
also made more obvious allusions to Classical texts (particularly Pliny the Elder) and
direcdy quoted a poem by a fellow member of the Academia di Gelati named
Summerscale 2000, p. 206]).
18. Ibid, p. 36 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, voL i, p. 428 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 309D.
19. See Mahon 1947), p. 135, a 86; idem, “Art Theory and Artistic Practice in the Early Seicento:
Some Clarification,” A rt Bulletin xxxv (1953), p. 229; and idem, “Eclecticism and the Carracci:
Further Reflections on the Validity of a babel”Journal o f tie Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
xxvi (1953), pp. 306-308. The relevant page in Lomazzo’s text are pp. 437-38.
20. Mahon 1953b, p. 229.
21. “Mahon reveals that Faberio’s speech, which was published in 1603 and repeated by Malvasia,
was adapted from the work of another author who used it in a different context, and
emphasizes that, although Faberio was secretary of the Carracci Academy in Bologna in the
1580s, he was a man of letters and not someone professionally concerned with th e arts”
(Michael Kitson, “Denis Mahon: Art Historian and Collector,” in Discovering tbe Italian
Baroque: Tbe Denis Mabon Collection, exh. cat. by Gabriele Finaldi, Michael Kitson e t al.,
London, National Gallery [London: National Gallery Publications, 1997}, p. 16).
Melchiore Zoppio. Faberio’s adoption and then adaptation of Lomazzo’s conceit is
just one example of how literary structures were commonly reused elsewhere in
similar contexts. His statement undoubtedly reflected ideas that the Carracci
endorsed and his choices of models would have been more recognizable to his
listeners that they are to readers today. In fact, his very use o f the verb imitare (to
imitate) is consistent with usage found in writings by the Carracci.
The dismissal of the passage as merely a literary decoupage, and therefore

untrustworthy, also contradicts the practices of other art theorists. Lomazzo himself
had appropriated lines from Marsilio Ficino’s commentary on Plato’s Symposium
And, later in the seventeenth century, even Nicolas Poussin formulated “his own”
theories of art using excerpts from texts by Alberti, Paolo Aresi, Ludovico
Castelvetro, Ficino, C. P. Galluci, Lomazzo, Agostino Mascardi, Quintilian, and
Tarquato Tasso .23 Although Mahon did his best to discredit Faberio’s text, at least
he admitted that, “While Lomazzo is inconsequential, shifts his ground, and loses
the thread of the discussion, Faberio naturally centers the whole argument on
Agostino and tightens it up with deft craftsmanship.”^ In fact, what Mahon failed
to acknowledge was that the portions of Faberio’s eulogy that were closest to
Lomazzo’s text are those lines referring to other painters (Daniele da Volterra, Perino
del Vaga, and others) active during the first half of the sixteenth century who had
failed to match the accomplishments of leading masters (Michelangelo, Raphael,
etc). Faberio’s comments about Agostino, particularly his choice of models, appear
to be wholly original
The third and final component of IIFunerale dAgostino Carraccio... is the least
known to scholars. Printed at the back of the booklet are fourteen couplets and
sonnets in praise of Agostino. In fact, Morello wrote in his description of the
ceremony that “Poems in every language were posted in the church” and that they
existed “in such large numbers that had Agostino’s admirers or perhaps some
22. See Erwin Panofsky, Idea: A Concept in A rt Theory, transl. by Joseph J. S. Peake (Columbia:
University of South Carolina Press, 1968), pp. 140-35.
23. See Anthony Blunt, “Poussin’s Notes on Painting,” Journal o f the Warburg and Courtauld
Institute I (1937-38), pp. 344-45; Panofsky 1968, p. 162; Wilhelm Messerer, “Die ^lodi’ im Werk
von Poussin,” in FestschriftLuitpoldDussler: 28 StudienzurArcbdologie und Kunstgeschicbte, pp. 335-
56 (Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1972); Albert P. de Mirimonde, “Pousin et la musique,”
Gazette des Beaux-Arts LXXIX (1972), pp. 129-50; and Bellori 1976, pp. 478-81.
24. Mahon 1953b, p. 308.
24
envious person not removed them shortly after they had been put up, no doubt
everything would have been covered in white rather than in black .“25 Morello
continued, “But of this great number of poems it was possible to conserve only a few
o f which the originals were saved because o f the need to transcribe them .”26 O f the
fourteen verses transcribed, Bellori and Malvasia reprinted only five in all, those by
Giovanni Battista Lauri, Cesare Rinaldi, Alessandro Santi (two verses), and Giulio
Cesare Segni.27 Scholars did not realize that nine more verses were included in the
original edition including one by Lucio Faberio describing Agostino’s lost painting of
the Head o f Christ-, signed verses by Lorenzo Arrighi and Gabriele Bambasi, and eight
others by anonymous authors or writers using pseudonyms such as the uVelato
Academico Insensato” (see Appendix A). Morello’s statement about the many poems
written at the time may seem exaggerated, but in the course of my research in the
Biblioteca Universitaria I discovered fifty additional sonetti, canzoni, ballate, and
madrigali by various authors dedicated “A l sig. Carraccio pittore” (see Appendix B).
Together with the fourteen examples published in 1603, this body of literature
represents, to the best of my knowledge, the largest collection o f contemporary
verses honoring any artist. While these works certainly deserve to be studied closely
and fully published, they are, unfortunately, beyond the scope of my discussion.
Nonetheless, the unprecedented critical reception Agostino received in January
1603, demonstrates the enormous success o f the Carracci and their Academy.
Few artists have ever received such a distinguished send-off. And while
Agostino was the first of the Carracci to became internationally known due to the
wide-spread popularity of his prints, the pomp and circumstance surrounding his
death at a relatively young age owed more to the impact the triumvirate had on the
visual arts not only in Bologna but also in Parma, Venice, Rome, and beyond. In
many respects, Agostino’s funeral offered the academicians an extraordinary
opportunity to celebrate the triumph of the Carracci and demonstrate just how
pervasive were their ideas about art. But it also allowed them to thumb their noses at
Vasari’s Florentines in a bold display of artistic municipalismo and one-upmanship that
25. Benedetto Morello in Bologna 1603, p. 27 (rpt. in Bellori 1672, p. 131 [Bellori ed. 1976, pp. 144-
45); and Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 421 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. i, p. 304; transl.: Summerscale 2000,
p.195D.
26. Ibid.
27. See Bellori 1672, p. 132 (for Lauri, Rinaldi, and Segni) (Bellori ed. 1976, pp. 146-147); and Malvasia
1678, voL 1, pp. 433 (Santi) and 434 (Rinaldi) (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, pp. 311-312).
*5
stemmed from the deep antipathy the trio and their admirers felt toward the maniera
modema that had originated in Florence. The academicians had a good case for out
doing their rivals. Already in the first edition of the Vite (1550), Vasari, a founding
member of the Accademia del Disegno, characterized Bologna as an artistic backwater
awash in mediocre painters with “heads full of pride, and smoke”.28 He repeated
this opinion in the second edition and expanded it, adding that jealousy, rivalry, and
arrogance had motivated the city’s principle painters during the first half of the
sixteenth century. They had failed to “honour works of rare masters and imitate
them with all diligence”.^ But “thanks to having seen the works of Raffaello and
[having] associated with him, [the Bolognese painters mentioned above] had a certain
quality which, upon the whole, gave promise to excellence, but in truth they did not
attend as they should have done to the more subtle refinements of art.” Foremost of
those “works of Raffaello” was the Saint Cecilia in Bologna’s San Giovanni in Monte,
which was, in fact, the subject of many painted copies and one of the earliest
reproductive engravings (1539), by the Bolognese artist Giulio Bonasone (i53i-i574).3°
As the greatest example o f Tuscan-Roman painting of the H igh Renaissance in
Emilia, the altarpiece presented local artists with a nearly perfect, inimitable
model—uuno miracolo” in Annibale’s own words and a refreshing source of inspiration
for Girolamo da Carpi (1501-1556), as well. Despite the presence of several other
pictures by Raphael (1483-1520) and a few by Correggio, Parmigianino (1503-1540),
and other canonical masters, Vasari believed that Bologna’s population had suffered
from debased tastes and provincialism in thinking that home-grown painters were
“the best masters in Italy.”?1 Vasari, however, had a much higher opinion of the
28. uhanno il capo pieno di superbia, e di fumo" (“Vita di Bartolomeo da Bagpacavallo & a ltri pittori
Romagnuolit in Vasari 1550, pp. 213-14; transl.: author).
29. Vasari specifically had in mind Bartolomeo Ramenghini, called Bagnacavallo (ca. 1484-ca. 1542);
Amico Aspertim (ca. 1475-1552); Girolamo Marchesi da Codgnola (1471/72-1540/50); and
Innocenzio da Imola (1485-1348).
30. See UEstasidi Santa Cecilia di Raffaello da Urbino nella Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, exh. cat.,
Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale (Bologna: Alfa, 1983). For Bonasone’s engraving ana a discussion
of the development and definition o f reproductive prints see David Landau and Peter Parshall,
Tbe Renaissance Print 1570-1550 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994), pp.162-
68; the print after Raphael’s painting is fig. 177.
31. Vasari 1568, voL 3, pt. 3b, chap. 160 (“Vita di Bartolomeo da Bagnacavallo & a ltri pittori
RomagnuolT), pp. 825-27 (transL: De Vere 1996, voL 1, p. 912). These were fighting words that
enflamed Malvasia more than a century after they were published “Cosi armato piu di livore,
che di ragioni munito, scrisse questo autore de’ nostri Bolognesi, falsemente divulgandoli per
invidiosi fra loro e nemici, quando pur troppo concorde e feaerle ebbe egli stesso a provare la
loro society tanto arroganti e vangloriosi, allora che se stessi poco stimarono, aa ogni vil
prezzo operarono; cosi sprezzatori aogni altro artefice, mentre che anche maestri ad imparar
26
“excellent” Bolognese painters from the succeeding generation who looked to

Vasari’s Florence and Rome for inspiration, many of who were still actively working
when the Carracci were young men. He particularly favored the maniera modema of
Francesco Primaticcio (ca. 1504-1570); Prospero Fontana (1512-1597), with whom
Ludovico apprenticed briefly; Lorenzo Sabatini (1530-1597), Pellegrino Pellegrini
(1527-1596), called Tibaldi; and Orazio Sammacchini (1532-1577), all of whom had
worked in the Papal City and/or Florence.
T he Carracci certainty read Vasari’s Vite. In a remarkable instance of survival

there exists a single original volume (the third of three) that they owned.32 It
contains many annotations written in pen in its margins that scholars since Bellori
have variousty attributed to individual hands .33 These postille, as they are known, are
replete with observations critical of Vasari and germane to their own works. T he
Carracci Reform began less than a dozen years after the second edition of the Lives
appeared and given their knowledge of Vasari’s book, there can be little doubt that
the trio challenged the author’s unflattering opinions about Bolognese painting and
his assessments of the painters they admired. At the same time, they valued the
information the Vite contained. Vasari himself had painted frescoes in the refectory
of the Olivetan monastery at San Michele in Bosco, located on a wooded hill above
Bologna, that the Carracci judged thusty: “you can see [they] are most clumsy, and
da Rafaelle s’umiliarono, a quella sola maniera s’attennero” (“Vita di Bartolomeo Ramenghi

detto il Bagnacavallo e altri di questa famiglia e scuola...” in Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 112).
For a discussion of other works by Raphael in Cinquecento Bologna see Charles Dempsey,
“The Carracci Postille to Vasari’s Lives”A rt Bulletin LXVIII (1986), pp. 552-59. See also Edward
Grasman, “Vasari en Bologna: een moeizame verhouding,” Incontri XI (1996)1 pp- 55-63.
32. Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale dell’Archiginnasio MS 4224.
33. The postille were first mentioned in Bellori 1672, p. 24 (Bellori ed. 1976, p. 36) and then in
Malvasia 1678, vol. 2, p. 135 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 2, p. 93). Heinrich Bodmer (“Le note
marginali di Agostino Carracci nell’edizione del Vasari del 1568,” II Vasari, Rivista cFArte e di
Stum Cinquecenteschi X (1939), pp. 89-127) published an eighteenth-century copy of the original
volume, which Mario Fanti discovered and transcribed in 1979 (“Le Postille carraccesche alle
‘Vite’ del Vasari: II testo originale,” II Carrobbio V (1979), pp. 148-64). Fanti amended some of
his views in, “Ancora sulle postille carraccesche all ‘Vite’ del Vasari: In buona parte sono di
Annibale,” II Carrobbio VI (1980), pp. 136-41. In addition see Dempsey 1977, pp. 44-45; Donald
Posner, “Marginal Notes by Annibale Carracci,” Burlington Magazine CXXIV (1982), p. 239; and,
particularly, Dempsey 1986a. Regarding the dating or the postille Giovanna Perini wrote: “Se
le postille garantiscono la genuinita ideologies di quelle lettere (del resto accolta
indipendentemente da alcuni studosi modemi), ci fomiscono anche qualche conferma interna
della propria ascrizione cronologica al periodo romano di Annibale, probabilmente verso
l’inizio del soggiorno: che un terminus post per la loro composizione (da supporre come
pressapoco unitaria, e non scaglionata nel temped e dato dalla postila a p. 816 della Giuntina, gia
pubblicata dal Bellori, dove sr parla di Jacopo Bassano al passato prossimo, come si farebbe di
qualche contemporaneo scomparso da non troppo tempo: e Jacopo era morto nel 1592 (di
Tiziano, morto nel 1576, o del Veronese, morto nel 1588, si parla al remoto o all’imperfetto)”
(Perini 1990, p. 35).
27
very affected, raw and dry and poorly drawn and colored even w orse.”34 For their
part, the Carracci described Vasari as a spiteful beast, ignorant, greedy, malignant,
arrogant, and even “gpjfo” o rc lu m sy .35
RESURRECTING PITTU RA: T H E “TRATTATO ” OF GIOVANNI BATTISTA AGUCCHI
any of the concepts that Faberio had expressed surface again in a
M treatise on painting by Giovanni Battista Agucchi (1570-1632), a

Bolognese monsignore who lived in Rome, who developed the belief that
the three Carracci were the “restitutori” to a much greater extent than Faberio had.
Like Faberio, Agucchi knew the artists personalty and purchased their paintings for
his own collection. The account he wrote must have been based on information
directly gained from them, and while the text is clear and concise, several intriguing
issues concern the dating, function, and inception of the work. Agucchi’s contacts
with Ludovico are documented during the period when he wrote the treatise. Two
letters by Ludovico, discovered fairly recently, demonstrate that Agucchi was in
contact with the artist in 1608, when the two discussed decorations for a memorial in
the presbytery of Piacenza Cathedral dedicated to the Monsignor’s uncle, Cardinal
Filippo Sega (unfortunately the project was not realized).36 And in a letter of May 16,
1618, published in the Felsina, Agucchi wrote to Bartolomeo Dolcini (1568-1634)
about the proper form for addressing letters to Ludovico (Dolcini suggested “molto
34. “Si vede alcune £&[se] di Pelegrino m i suoiprimi ann{i] tanto belle cbefiznndi maravigliare, e
vole rambitiosi[ssvn\6\ Vasari cb’egli dissegnasse le cose j[ue] di San M ichel in Bosco, che sono come si
*[u6} vederegpffissime et molto affettate, cfrude e] secche e trial disegniate e peggo co/[orite}” (Bologna,
Biblioteca Comunale MS 4224, p. 801; transl.: author; the Italian transcription given herein is
from Perini, Giovanna, ed. Scritti Gli scritti dei Carracci, introduction By Charles Dempsey.
{Bologna: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1990], p. 160 {as by Annibale}; see also Bodmer 1939a, pp. 108-9
{as by Agostino, with minor variations}; and Fanti 1979, p. 159 {as by Annibale]). This postilla
appears in the vita of Francesco Primaticcio, where Vasari stated that the Bolognese painter
Pellegrino Tibaldi had learned to draw by studying his Bolognese frescoes: “This Pellegrino,
after having attended in his early years to drawing the works by Vasari that are in the
refectory or S. Michele in Bosco at Bologna, and those by other painters of good name, went
in the year 1547 to Rome, where he occupied himself until the year 1550 in drawing the most
noteworthy works...” CDescriziom dell’opere di Franc. Primaticcio Bolognese, Abate di s. Martino pit.
ifarcbitetto" in Vasari 1568, voL 3, pt. 3b, chapt. 156, p. 801 {transl: De Vere 1996, voL 1, pp. 775-
7®-
35. Charles Dempsey summed up the critical bent of the postille as follows: “The dominant and
repeated theme \oftbe notes} is a pungently worded protest against Vasari’s bias in favor of
Florentine and Roman painters, causing him to overpraise their style in general and its less
talented practitioners in particular, and an equally strong protest against Vasari’s bias against
N orth Italian and especially Venetian painters, causing him to undervalue their style and to
criticize or even ignore the great masters of the region” (Dempsey 1986a, p. 75).
36. See Carolyn H. Wood, “Agucchi, Lodovico Carracci and the Monument to Cardinal Sega at
Piacenza, Burlington Magazine CXXXIII (1991), pp. 429-33. The letters do not appear in Perini
28
Illustre”).yi Scholars believe that Agucchi composed the “Trattatto” between ca.
1607 and ca. 1615, but this date is too imprecise. In a letter dated 1638, Domenico
Zampieri (1581-1641), called Domenichino, a student of the Carracci, stated that he
was living in Agucchi’s house at the time he wrote the “Trattato”38 and Bellori stated
that Agucchi had discussed the project with Domenichino .39 Based on this
information alone, it is possible that the text dates as early as 1604, when
Domenichino entered Agucchi’s “casa”A° Furthermore, the treatise must pre-date
Annibale death on July 15, 1609, since Agucchi mentioned Agostino’s passing^ but
treated Annibale and the “Scuola de’Carracci” as contemporaneous.42
Dating the “Trattato” to the five-year period between 1604 and 1609 has
significant repercussions. Like Faberio’s “Orazione”, Agucchi’s work is eulogy of
sorts, written when Agostino’s star had fallen and Annibale’s was waning.
Emotionally devastated and physically drained, most o f the works Annibale produced
after 1605, when he suffered from a “mortal sickness”, were his in conception but
not execution. He suffered from “a fatuity of mind and memory, so that speech and
memory failed him and he was in danger of instantaneous death”, according to Giulio
Mancini, a physician and historian of the period .43 Annibale relied on assistants who
did most of the painting and who, in late 1608 (when his condition declined even
more), were required to collect their master’s monthly stipend from the Famese for
1990).
37. Lost letter dated 19 May 1618 from Agucchi in Rome to Bartolomeo Dolcini in Bologna (rpt.
in Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 459 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 327]). For Dolcini, aBolognese
Canon, see Summerscale 2000, pp. 362-63.
38. “Sperava con la venuta a Roma del signor Gio. Antonio Massani d’aver nelle mani il discorso
che scrisse Agucchi, nel tempo che stavamo in casa” (Lost letter dated June 12, 1638 from
Domenichino Zapieri in Naples to Francesco Angeloni in Rome [transc. in Bellori 1672 {“Vita
di Domenico Zampieri, IIbolognese,pittore e arcbitetto’} p. 359 {Bellori ed. 1976, p. 371}]).
39. “In questo studio l’Agucchi, communicando con Domenico, si propose di comporre un discorso
sopra le varie maniere della pittura, dividendola in quattro parte...” (ibid., p. 315 [Bellori ed.
1976, p. 329]).
40. For this period in the artist’s career see Richard E. Spear, Domenicbmo, voL 1 (New Haven &
London: Yale University Press, 1982), p. 28.
41. Mossini 1646, p. 13 (rpt. in Mahon 1947, P- 255!^ Marabottini 1979, p. Ivii).
42. See ibid., p. 14 (rpt. in Mahon 1947, pp. 256-58; and Marabottini 1979, pp. Iviii-Ix).
43. Mancini, p. 218 (transL: John F. Moffitt, “Painters ‘Bom Under Saturn’: The Physiological
Explanation,” A rt History XI (1988), p. 199). John F. M offitt convincingly ascribed Annibale’s
condition to lead-poisoning (see ibid., pp. 199-200).
29
him .44 Nonetheless, the story Agucchi told was one of unity and robustness with no
hints of Annibale’s poor state or the anxieties with Agostino that had brought it
about. Agucchi had been a fan of Annibale’s for several years. Shortly before April,
1603, he composed a detailed and lucid description of Annibale’s painting of a
sleeping Venus (Chantilly, Musee Conde), then in the Palazzo Famese, Rome,
where Agucchi demonstrated his great respect for the artist, using superlatives like
“divino” and “excellenze (sic)n to characterize him and the picture, especially “its
invention, color, and design ”.45
It is no exaggeration to say that modem scholars value the “Trattato” as a

ideological master-piece and its author as a great theorist, but what Agucchi planned
to do with his manuscript is up for question. H e was a prolific author who wrote far
more about theological topics, civic history, and cosmology than he did about art,
although art historians, perhaps too enthusiastically, consider him a major figure in
the development of classical idealist art theory in Rome based on his written works.
In fact, of the twenty-three manuscripts ascribed to Agucchi in his posthumous
biography of 1644, the ‘Trattato della Pittura” and the “Descrizione d’un quadro
grande del famoso Pittore Annibal Caracci”, are the only artistic titles—aside from
letters—by him and the only ones ever to be published.46 Upon his death in 1632,
44. See Francois Charles Uginet, Le Palais Famese, vol. 3, p a n 1, Le Palais Famese a trovers les
documentsfinanciers (1535-1612) (Rome: L’Ecole, 1980), pp. 102-106. Uginet published documents
recording payments from the Farncsc family to Annibale beginning on 4 January 1601 and
continuing, with some lapses, until 20 December 1608. Perhaps the most significant of these
are the three entries dating from the period of Annibale's illness, that is after 1604. On June
14,1608 Sisto Badalocchio received money on Annibale's behalf for the previous month of
May Qbid., pp. 105-106, no. 1003), On October 8, 1608, Giovanni Lanfranco collected the
stipend for the month of September and during the following November (no day is specified)
for the month of October (fbid., p. 106, nos. 1004 and 1005, respectively).
45. It was in a letter dated 23 April 1603 that Agucchi mentioned that he had written about the
Sleeping Venus. The original letter is one of several by Agucchi in the British Library (MS
Harley 3463; rpt. in Eugenio Battisti, L A ’ ntbinascimento: con un’appendice di testi inediti, 2nd. ed.,
voL 1, {Milam Garzanti, 1989], p. 547: Hor saltiamo dalTErmmia alia Venere, bo contratta amista,
none gran tempo conpersona principale le lettere, e massime toscane, con la quale favellando un porno
delli stilt, e della lingua, mi vene fa tta mentione di quella mia descritione.”). Bellori based his own,
shorter account of the painting on Agucchi’s text without acknowledging his source of
inspiration (Bellori 1672, pp. 89-92 {Bellori ed. 1976, pp. 101-103}). Malvasia sought out,
obtained, and published tne work in the Felsina pittrice (Malvasia 1678, voL 1, pp. 503-14
{Mahrasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, pp. 360-67]). For analysis of the text see Giovanna Perini, T ’arte di
descrivere: La tecnica dell ecfrasi in Malvasia e Bellori,” I T atti Studies, Essays in tbe Renaissance
ill (1989), pp. 175-206; Elizabeth Cropper, Tbe Idealo fPainting: Pietro Testa's DusseldorfNotebook
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), pp. 170-72; and idem, mLa bib bella anticbita cbe
sappiate desiderateHistory and Style in Giovan Pietro Bellori’s ‘Lives’,” Kunst und Kunsttbeorie
1400-15)00, WolfinbuttelerForscbungen XLVIII (1991), pp. i45~73- For the painting see Posner 1971,
vol. 2, pp. 59-60, cat. no. 134, ill..
46. See Giacomo Filippo Tomasini, Elogia Virorttm Uteris et Sapientia Illustrium, ad vivttm expressis
30
Agucchi bequeathed his many papers to his secretary, Monsignor Giovanni Antonio
Massani, who wrote that Agucchi was a “persona di lettere non ordinaria” who had left
him “diverse annotatiom, e discorso intomo alia professione della Pittura”A 7 Under the
rather unsubtle pseudonym “Giovanni Atanasio Mosini,” Massini included the
“Trattato” within the preface o f a book printed in Rome in 1646—some fourteen
years after Agucchi had died (Agucchi’s original manuscript is in Bologna).48
Massini ascribed the treatise to Gratiadio Machati, the pen-name Agucchi himself
occasionally had employed and noted that the treatise was not ainteramente
perfettionata {wholly perfected].”
W hen Denis Mahon “rediscovered” the publication, he used it as the basis

for his book, Studies in Seicento A rt and Theory, of 1947, arguing that Agucchi’s
classicistic art theory caused a dramatic change in the painting style of Giovanni
Francesco Barbieri (1591-1666), better known as Guercino. The relationship
between Guercino’s approach to painting and Agucchi’s views on art is circuitous, at
best, and Mahon’s did not treat his important discovery in the most conventional
manner. Because nothing had been written about the Trattato for two centuries
prior to the publication of M ahon’s book, his interpretation set the stage for the way
historians presently view Agucchi and his prose. Perhaps based on Massini’s vague
imaginibus exomata (Padua: Sebastiani Sardi, 1644), pp. 27-28.
47. See th e note that follows.
48. Giovanni Atanasio Mosini (pseud, for Giovanni Antonio Massini), DIVERSE FIGURE A l numero
diottanta,Disegnatedibenna nelFbore di ricreatione DA ANNIBALE CARRACCI INTAGLIATE IN
RAME, E cauate daglt Originali DA SIMONE GVILINO PARIGINO. DEDICATE A TVTTI I
VIRTVOSI, Et Intenaenti della Professione della Pittura, e del Disegno, (Rome: Ludovico Grignani,
1646). The text is reprinted with critical annotations in Mahon 1947, pp. 231-75; and Le A rti di
Bologna di Annibale Carracci, 2d. ed., ed. and with intro, by Alessandro Marabottini (Rome:
Edizioni dell’Elefante, 1979), pp. xxxvii-lxxiv. Mosini introduced Agucchi’s texts as follows:
“Rimane, ch’io vi soggiunga (Curiosi di questa professione), che molti anni addietro vn tale
Gratiadio Machati, persona di lettere non ordinaria, mi lascib alia sua morte alcuni de’ suoi
manoscritti, nelli quali trovandosi diverse annotationi, e discorsi intomo alia professione della
Pittura, & a gli Operarij di essa cosi antichi, come modemi; b paruto non meno £ molti de’
amici, che £ me, non essere fuor di proposito il ma[«]dar in luce alcuna cosa di quegli scritti in
compagnia delle Figure; poich6 quefl’Autore f£ vna particolar mentione della scuola de’
Carracci, e piu specialmente di Annibale si b posto £ ragionare. Ma perch£ egli pensb di
trattare difmsamente dell’arte della Pittura, e con qualche lunghezza entro ad investigarne
filosoficamente la sua vera definitione; portrebbe forse parerui, che troppo lunga occupatione
io vi apportassi qui, dandoui da leggere tutta la materia nel modo, ch egli l’ha lasciata, che
nemeno (come forse egli volea) b interamente perfettionata. E percib, posto da parte per hora
quel che egli h£ considerate come Filosofo, vi apporterd aui ci6, che pu6 piu appartenere alia
presente opportunit£ per fare al libro delle Figure non aisdiceuole accompaenamento. e voi
ancora ricordateui, che pur mi hauete persuaso di aggiugnere alle Figure del libro alcuna
particolarit£, che io hauessi, intomo alia vita di Annibal Carracci, & alia medesima sua
professione. Dice dunque quell’Autore, {Agucchi’s text follows]” (Mosini 1646, p. 6 {rpt.
Mahon 1947, pp. 239-40; and Marabottini 1979, pp. xlii-xliii}). For the original manuscript see
Bologna, Biblioteca Universario MS 75 I [G. B. Agucchi: Vita HierorrymiAguccbt\.
3*
comments that he owned “annotationF and “discorsi” on art by Agucchi and that the
treatise was imperfect, nearly every modem writer who has discussed the “Trattato”
has referred to it as a fragment of a larger work. N either internal references in the
text nor any external evidence, however, suggests that this is the case. The
existence o f Agucchi’s autograph manuscript in Bologna proves that Massini did not
assemble the text he published from other sources he had inherited. Indeed, the
treatise represents a complete work, written from the perspective of an intellectual
sympathetic to Annibale and proud of the contributions made by the three artists
from his native Bologna.
Agucchi, like other Seicento historians o f art, emulated Giorgio Vasari,

arranging biographical data in chronological order, enabling his account to be
understood as an epic history.49 A nd following Vasari’s model, he used rhetorical
conventions dating from antiquity, so one commonly encounters references in the
“Trattato” to Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, or to Renaissance, such as Ludovico
Ariosto (1474-1533) or Tarquato Tasso (1544-1595), who were familiar with ancient
literature and used similar conceits. Agucchi hoped to convince readers that his
vision of art history was of central concern because he wanted to promote the rich
artistic heritage o f Bologna, his hometown. He believed that the past was composed
of brilliant periods of verisimilitude and ruder moments in which the arts took on
cruder styles—a common and popular conceit in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, based loosely on Vasari’s model. Agucchi praised the antique and scorned
the many centuries of imperfection and rozzezza that ensued before painting was
“renata [reborn]” in the Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance times.5° T he success
or failure o f these periods and o f the individual artists then at work depended on how
they dealt w ith the problem of “imitazione [imitation].” Simply depicting the visible
world, or “tutte k cose visibilT, could only lead to mediocrity in Agucchi’s opinion. On
the other hand, he admired painters who could render things in a perfected form of
beauty, capturing -what Agucchi called the “Idea del bello”. T he latter form required
“finezza digtudhio” of the kind that Faberio extolled in Agostino’s “giudizioso” works,
49. Biographical dictionaries did not appear until the Eighteenth century. The best-known early
example is Pellegrino Antonio Orlandi’s Vabeadano pittorico: dalTauton ristampato corretto et
accresctuto di molti professori e di altre notizie spettanti alia pittura.... (Bologna: Costantino Pisarri,
1704).
50. G. Agucchi in Mosini 1646, pp. 6-8. (rpt. in Mahon 1947, pp. 241-245; and Marabottini 1979, pp.
xliii-xlviii). For a discussion of Aguccni’s source see Mahon 1947, pp. 244-45, h*19a-b-
but Agucchi mentioned the imitative modes in the context of painters of antiquity,
suggesting their ancient roots.51
T he author distilled sixteenth-century Italian painting into four distinctive

schools or “spetie [species]” and summarily discussed their most important
characteristics based on their imitative practices. T he “Scuola Romatia”, whose
principle proponents, were Raphael and Michelangelo, studied and improved upon
the antique models. The painters o f the Venetian State imitated the “beauty of
nature, which arise in the eyes”. T he Lombard school, with Correggio at its helm,
was “tender, easy, and equally noble”. And lastly, the Tuscans (Leonardo, Andrea
del Sarto among the Florentines and Domenico Beccafumi and Baldassare Peruzzi
among the Sienese) adopted an altogether different manner that was finer, diligent,
and somewhat artificial (minuto alquanto, e del diligmte, e discuopre assai Fartifitio).
Michelangelo’s works, Agucchi mentioned, had little to do with Tuscan style. T he
monsignore mentioned in passing Albrecht Durer, who “formed his school, and is
worthy of praise”, and noted that “many other valorous artificers” existed among the
Germans, Flemish, and French, but he concentrated on the situation in Italy.52
Unlike Vasari, Agucchi judged the historical style known as the maniera in
altogether unfavorable terms. From their height earlier in the century, he reported
that artistic sensibilities were shattered, only to be resurrected in Bologna, Agucchi’s
hometown. The rest of the treatise is devoted to the Carracci, who the monsignore
introduced as follows:
It happened [after theperiod in which Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and

Titian flourished] that Painting underwent a decline, descending from
those heights it had attained, and if it would not fall once again into
the barbarous darkness of former times, it was lost sight ox, causing
knowledge of the good to vanish almost completely, and giving rise to
new and various manners [diverse tnamere} tnat were totally removed
51. Ibid, pp. 7-8. (rpt. in Mahon 1947, pp. 241-43).
52. “E per dividere la Pittura de’ tempi nostri in Quella guisa, che fecero li sopranominad antichi;
si pu6 affermare, che la Scuola Romana, della quale sono stati li primi Rimi Rafaelle, e
Michelangelo, ha seguitata la bellezza della statue, e si b auuicinata all’artifitio degli antichi.
Ma i Pittori Vinitiani, e della Marca Triuigiana, il cui capo b Titiano, hanno piu tosto imitata
la belleza della natura, che si ha innanzi 4 gli occhi. Antonio da Correggio il primo de’
Lombardi e stato imitatore della natura quasi maggiore, perche l’h l seguitata in un modo
tenero, facile, & egualmente nobile, e si b fatta la sua maniera da per se. I Toscani sono stati
autori di una maniera diversa dalle gia detta, perche h i del minuto alquanto, e del diligente, e
discuopre assai l’artifitio. Tengono il primo luogo Leonardo da Vinci, & Andrea del Sarto tra’
Fiorentini; perche Michelangelo quanto alia maniera, non si mostrd troppo Fiorentino: e
Mecarino, e Baldassare tra’ Sanesi <[Ibid, pp. 8-9 {rpt. in Mahon 1947, pp. 246-47 }; transL:
author).
33
from the real \vero\ and the verisimilar [verisimile], and were more
dependent on appearance than substance, since the artists wanted no
more than to use things derived from here and there that lacked
proper contours and were only rarely well put together, while others,
straying into other remarkable errors, set themselves at the farthest
remove from the path that leads to excellence.
But while this fine profession was being contaminated, so to speak, by
all these artistic heresies, and was in danger of completely losing its
way, there appeared in the city of Bologna three men who were as
closely related by blood as they were united and of one mind in their
determination to undertake the most extensive and demanding
studies in order to reach the highest perfection of their art.
These men were Ludovico, Agostino, and Annibale Carracci, from
Bologna. Ludovico was the cousin of the other two, who were brothers,
and was the first to devote himself to the profession of painting, and
the other two received their initial instruction in this art from him.
And because all three were fortunately blessed with that natural talent
which is so necessary for this very difficult art, they very soon came to
the realization that it was up to them to rescue art from the decline into
which it had fallen owing to the corruptions mentioned above.53
Some very precious biographical data follows. Agucchi then reported that as
youths54 the Carracci were able to study paintings by Titian and Correggio in
Bologna, railing them “ilprimo studio loro”. Although Mahon found the statement
hard to swallow, noting that “It seems that Agucchi may have been romancing here;
at any rate I know of no record of any ‘public’ pictures by Titian or Correggio having
been at Bologna at this time ”,55 Agucchi did not specifically indicate that the
53. Ibid, p. 9 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 448-49 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 323; transl:
Summerscale 2000, pp. 234-35}; Mahon 1947, pp. 247-48; and Marabottini 1979, p. 0.
54. “Laonde mentre nella Citt4 di Bologna poteron riuolger l’animo ad alcune opere di Titiano, e
del Correggio, sopra quelle fecero il primo studio loro. £ ben considerando con quanto
intendimento, e buon gusto havessero que’ due gran Maestri imitata la nature, si posero con
esatdssima diligenza a studiare sopra il naturale con quella stessa intendone, che da
uell’opere si raccogliuea haver havuto gli stessi Correggio, e Titiano. Appreso non contend
3 i contemplate quelle sole opere di quei Maestri, che era in quella Citt4, si transferirono a
bello studio a Venetia, & ad altri luogni della Lomabardia, doue n’erano in gran copia, non solo
di que’ due gran soggetti, ma de’ loro megliori seguaci in buon maniere, giunsero ben presto a
vn segno, cne col’vtile, ne riportarono no[n} poco credito, e nominanza. Onde dopo d’hauer
fatte diuerse opere per quelle Citta , tornati 4 Bologna, doue costuma quella nobilita di
conoscere, stimare, & amare la virtu fu da que’ Signori avualorato in modo lanimo di que tre
valorosi Giovani co[«} proportionate occasioni di for vtile, e soddisfattione; che me[#jtre si
veniua ad arricchire la C itti di molte opere di for manon, eressero ancora un’Academia del
Disegno; nella quale studiando del continuo sopra il naturale non solo vivo, ma spese volte de’
Cadaveri havuti dalla Giustitia, per apprendere quel vero rilassamento, che fanno i coipi; essi
si alzarono sempre piu 4 gradi di maggior eccellenza; e furon cagione, che molti della giouentu
s’inuaghirono <fi cosi bell’arte, e Della maniera di que’ Maestri; e dandosi alia medesima
professione, ne sono poi riusciti li soggetti, che parimente con gran valore si sono resi al
mondo famosi” (Ibid, p. 9-10 {rpt. in Mahon 1947, p. 246; and Marabottini 1979, pp. 1-li.D
55. Mahon 1947, p. 248, n. 22.
34
Carracci were limited to “public” paintings. At any rate, examples of those master’s
works existed in private collections. In the palazzo of Conte Agostino Hercolani was
Correggio’s Noli me tangere, which Pietro Lamo described in his 1560 guidebook
Graticola di Bologna as, “un Cristo nelFOrto con la Maddalena at piedi di mano di Mastro da
Correggio bellisimo”.56 T he Zambeccari family owned Titian’s Crucified Christ with the
Good and Bad Thieves (Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale, now fragmentary). And an
impressive Tintoretto, the Visitation, ca. 1550, hung in San Pietro Martire .57
According to Agucchi, the Carracci were particularly interested in how Titian and
Correggio “imitated nature” or how they interpreted the natural world. The trio
painted with the “same intention” they perceived in Titian’s and Correggio’s
paintings, suggesting that even when the Carracci rendered forms from nature they
tried to do so in the manner of Correggio and/or Titian. According to Agucchi’s own
description of their approaches, Titian and the Venetians uhanno piu tosto imitata la
bellezza della natura, che hd innanzi a gli occhi”, likewise Correggio, “e stato imitatore della
natura quasi maggiore, perche Fha seguitata in vn modo tenero, facile, fa egualment nobile [as
the Venetians], esi efatta la sua maniera daperse”.&
But Ludovico and his cousins reportedly were not content with the painting
available to them at home so they traveled to “Venice and other places in Lombardy”
where they saw an abundance of works by Titian and Correggio and their followers
and admirably imitated their maniere. Agucchi stated that the artists made “many
diverse works in those cities” prior to returning home—a reference, no doubt, to
some of the pictures that I will discuss in the following chapters.59Upon their return,
the Carracci opened “vn ’Academia de Disegno”, whose members drew from live
models and corpses (“studiano del contmuo sopra il naturale non solo viuo, ma spesse volte
de’ Cadaueri hauuti dalla Giustitia, per apprendere quel vero rilassamento, che fanno i
56. Pietro Lamo, Graticola d i Bologna, ossia, Descrizione delle pitturt, sculture e arcbitetture d i detta dttd
fa tta Fanno 1560 del pittore Pietro Lamo: ora per la prima volta data in luce con note illustrative
(Bologna: Guidi all’Ancora, 1844). p. 13.
57. See Bologna 1984. pp. 4-5, cat. nos. 2 and 3.
58. G. Agucchi in Mosini 1646, Ibid, pp. 9-10 (rpt. in Mahon 1947, p. 246; and Marabottini 1979, p.
lxviii.
59. Agucchi in Mosini 1646, p. 12 (rpt. Mahon 1947, P- 251; and Marabottini 1979, p. liii; also rpt. in
Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 403 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 294; transl.: author, in part, and
Summerscale 2000, p. 169, in part]).
35
corpr6°). Agucchi reported that, “many of the youths thus became enamored with
the fine arts and the beautiful maimer of those M asters [i.e. the Carracci]; and
surrendered themselves to the same profession [ofpainting with such great valor that
they became world famous.”61 In an important, but always neglected reference, he
described Ludovico as “ilmaestro deglialtrT and explained that when the trio worked
together they adopted similar (although not necessarily identical) styles. Agucchi
gave no timeline in his account but judging from the paintings and prints that are
known to date from the early period and from subsequent biographies, all o f the key
events that he mentioned took place before 1586.
Agucchi also made an major point that has never received just notice: namely
that each o f the Carracci grappled with formulating individual styles that fused
varying degrees of naturalism (known in the seventeenth century as the vero or
“real”) with visual and theoretical principles associated with North Italian art of the
High Renaissance, such as colore (colorism), painterliness, and grazia (grace), and an
appreciation of nature. He explained that:
In a very short time all of them reached a level o f excellence such that
when they worked together in a location where one could see the
works of all three of them at once and side by side, one could clearly
recognize something distinctive and particular to each of them, but
when it came to judging the comparative excellencies of their works,
men of discrimination were unable to find any difference [minima
differenza] between them . Being equal in quality, the many works they
made in Bologna were equally praised, ana thus all three painters won
great esteem and acquired tne reputation o f being truly excellent
masters.62
T he rest o f Agucchi’s account, which up to this point is surprisingly even-

handed, focuses on Annibale and, to a much lesser degree, Agostino. W hile the
events recounted above made the Carracci famous, Agucchi explained, they also laid
the groundwork for a second decisive career move. H e noted that soon both
Annibale and Agostino yearned to see “le Statue di Roma”: “And because they had
gone to Lombardy, they stopped for some time in Parma to study the Great Cupola
o f Correggio [in the Cathedral o f Parma]; & Agostino and Annibale in particular had
60. Agucchi in Mosini 1646, pp. 9-10 (rpt. Mahon 1947, pp. 248-249; and Marabottini 1979, pp. 1-li;
transl. author).
61. Agucchijn Mosini 1646, p. 10 (rpt. in Mahon 1947, pp. 248-49; transl. author).
62. Agucchi in Mosini 1646, p. 10 (rpt. Mahon 1947, p. 249; and Marabottini 1979, p. li; also rpt. in
Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 489 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 349; transL: Summerscaie 2000, p. 302]).
3*
the occasion to make the works they produced for His Serene Highness fthe Duke]
that were so well received by him that they opened their way for them to go there [to
Rome] under the protection of cardinal Odoardo Famese ”.63 For Agucchi, Annibale’s
art was perfected in Rome, where he “joined together the fineness of Design
[Disegno] o f the Roman School with the subdety of coloring [colorito] of L o m b ard y”. ^
It is also crucial to remember that even though the main point of Agucchi’s text was
to inspire readers to appreciate Annibale’s Roman works, he did not demean either
Ludovico or Agostino. After all, Agucchi noted that the three artists worked
together early on in order to perfect their art. But this image of equality changed in
1672 with the publication in Rome of Bellori’s Vite in 1672.
T he overarching theme of Faberio’s exegesis and Agucchi’s treatise is that the

Carracci were responsible for an artistic revival of historical proportions. The
accounts also underscore the early origins of the Reform. There can be little doubt
that the artists themselves contributed much of the information found in the early
literature. But did the Carracci have such a clear vision from the start? I will now turn
to addressing that question, the answer to which can be found by turning, again, to
Agostino’s funeral
TH E CARRIAGE OF STARDOM A N D T H E CARRACCI ACADEMY
...and from astronomy he [Agostino] sought to learn how many and what
kind are the celestial orbs, called spheres, the course and influence of
shooting stars, the nature of the Milky Way, what causes the fiery trails
of comets, and what causes rain, snow, dew, and frost; he wanted to
learn about the constellations, one of which, the Great Bear, popularly
known as the cart [carro], is the device of the Carracci family. (Lucio
Faberio)6?
63. Agucchi in Mosini 1646, p. 12 {(rpt. Mahon 1947, p. 251; and Marabottini 1979, p. liii; also rpt. in
Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 403 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 294; transl: author, in part, and
Summerscale 2000, p. 169, in partD.
64. Agucchi in Mosini 1646, p. 14 (rpt. in Mahon 1947, p. 257).
65. Lucio Faberio in Bologna 1603, p. 35 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 428 {Malvasia ed 1841, voL
1, p. 308; transl: Summerscale 2000, p. 202]).
37
eading the Carracci Academy’s efforts to memorialize Agostino was a local
L painter named Giovanni Paolo Bonconti (ca. 1563-1603) whose reputation is

sadly lost to obscurity together with his paintings.66 He had known the
Carracci at least since 1582, although scholars have underestimated his role in their
Reform. In Bonconti’s biography Malvasia published a document that serves as the
most important source of information regarding the Academy’s early years.
Giovanni’s father, Girolamo Bonconti, was a wealthy silk merchant who kept careful
records of his son’s artistic education, as the entries that Malvasia reprinted from
Girolamo’s account book show .67 In 1582, the elder Bonconti paid for the initial
expenses Giovanni had incurred in “passing to the Accademia de’ Carrazzi”. These
included money “for making a large and beautiful Madonna, the Impresa [or coat-of-
arms], benches, and other necessary things”.68 Scholars generally agree that the
annotation documents the Academy’s genesis, reasoning that the items met basic
needs. Nonetheless, no one has realized that Bonconti actually bankrolled a
significant part of the start-up costs, even though the payment stipulated Giovanni
had contributed his “proportionate parte”. The launch date of 1582 accords with
Bellori’s statement that the Carracci had founded the Academy soon after Agostino
66. “The tasks {involved in preparing fo r the funeral\ were distributed very cleverly among the
academicians. The invention and design of the entire decorative program was delegated to
Giovanpaolo Bonconti as the person who, with his extensive studies, long experience and
excellent judgement, had a profound knowledge of art and the highest standards of accuracy
and was also a person of great modest}' and nobility of manner and experienced in the practice
and technique of painting. Unfortunately, a few days after the funeral of Agostino, yielding to
a long illness that was perhaps exacerbated by the extreme efforts of mind and body he had
made in this undertaking, he became the companion in death and in praise of him to whom in
life he had been so closely joined in his affection and his studies, thus doubling the most
complete biography of Giovan Paolo Bonconti see Laura De Fanti, “AlTombra di Annibale.
Riflessi e tangenze carraccesche in artisti del Seicento a Roma," in La scuola dei Carracci: I
seguaci di Annibale e Agostino, eds. Emilio Negro and Massimo Pirondini (Modena: Ardoli,
1995), pp. 29-30-
67. Malvasia 1678, vol 1, p. 573 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, pp. 404-405). Malvasia explained that he
had seen the documents in the collection of Signor Valerio Polazzi. The Polazzi family also
owned a superb collection of drawings by the Carracci and the original register of the
Carracci Academy, which Malvasia discussed in the artists’ biography (Malvasia 1678, voL 1,
pp. 467 and 484 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, pp. 334 and346D. Reportedly Valerio had inherited
tne documents from his father, who Malvasia described as Giovanni Paolo Boncond’s
“fratello”, most likely meaning he was a cousin rather than a “brother”, as this was a common
use of the term in the Seicento. Malvasia’s account rings true, but no other evidence existed
to supplement the story until recently. In the course of compiling a comprehensive survey
of Sescento inventories in Bologna’s Archivio di Stato, Raffaella Morselli discovered Francesco
Polazzi’s last will and testament dated March 27,1675 and naming his son Valerio as his sole
beneficiary. See Raffaella Morselli, Collezioni e quadrerie nella Bologna del Seicento: inventari
1640-1707 (Documents For The History O f Collecting. Italian Inventories III), ed. Anna Cera Sones
(Los Angeles: Getty Information Institute, 1998), pp. 389-92.
68. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 573 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 405; transL: author).
3«
had returned to Bologna from V enice.^ And even before Bellori, the Bolognese
historian Antonio Masini (i666) wrote that Bonconti’s career began to blossom
around the time that Annibale painted his Crucifixion w ith Saints (Bologna, Santa
Maria della Carita), which is dated 1583.7° I t is tempting to suppose that the
Carracci and Bonconti families had business ties before Giovanni joined the
Academy. In all likelihood Girolamo’s dealings in silk had lead to contacts with
Agostino’s and Annibale’s father, a prominent tailor with a rich clientele. Indeed,
with Bonconti’s money, the Carracci could weave a rich future for themselves, which
is exactly what they seem to have done.
Specialists assume that the Carracci Academy was unlike any other. They
agree that the artists used the Academy to convey their ideas about art to fellow
painters and that it “combined under one roof the activities of an organization
devoted to teaching and to critical speculation, together with the activities of an
active workshop or business”, to quote Dempsey.71 Stephen Pepper held a different
opinion, believing that the academy was “a studio or workshop, rather than a formal
school with a set curriculum and classes”.?2 But none of the evidence suggests that
academicians were involved in workshop practices, those menial tasks around the
studio that were always reserved for garzoni. Nor is there any reason to believe that
the Carracci rejected the traditions of high learning associated with the very title:
academy. In fact, historians have neglected an important clue for understanding the
function of the Carracci Academy and the high ambitions of its founders: the
impresa. The emblem listed in Bonconti’s ledger and deemed among the “cose
69. Bellori 1672, p. 24 (Bellori ed. 1976, pp. 36-37). Malvasia simply wrote that Agostino and
Annibale persuaded Ludovico to open an academy “in his room {nella sua stanzay (Malvasia
1678, vol 1, p. 377 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 276]).
70. “A s. Bamaba in s. Nicolo di s. Felice, nella qual Chiesa Alsoso Lombardi fece la statua di s.
Nicold nell’Altar grande; & Annibale Carazzi aipinse il Crocifisso, con alcune Sand, nell’Altare
de’ Macchiavelli, nel qual tempo fioriva ancor l’eccellente pittore Gio. Paolo Bonconto”
(Antonio di Paolo Masini, Bologna perlustrata: in cm si fa mentione ogni aomo in perpetuo delle
fontiom sacre, eprofane di tutto F anno. Delle cbiese e loro feste...De’santi, e a a ltri Botognesi morti in
opinionedi santita..De’pontefici, cardinali, patriarcbi.JDepittori, scultori, & arcbitetti...L>i moU altre
cosememorabili,eneccessariedasapersidallacittadi Bologna...Iltuttosottoindicicopiosissimi, & vnode’
cognomi bolognesi, efbrestieri, cbe si nominano nelF opera cFAntonio di Paolo M asini {Bologna: Carlo
Zenero, 1650}, p. 368).
71. Dempsey 1989b, p. 83. The most informative modem accounts of the accademia are: Heinrich
Bodmer, “L’Accademia de’ Carracci,” IIComune diBoloma X III (1935), pp. 61-74; Dempsey 1980;
Gian Peiro Cammerota, “I Carracci e le Accademie in Bologna 1984, pp. 293-321; Dempsey
1989, pp. 33-43; and Feigenbaum 1993.
39
necessarie”, on a par with a painting of the Madonna and benches. The device,
according to Morello, consisted of “a starry sphere representing the universe with
the motto CONTENTIONE PERFECTUS [Perfected through competition}, above and
underneath the name GL’ENCAMINATI [Those who have started on the way].'nTi As I
mentioned earlier, a large shield with the symbol welcomed mourners at Agostino’s
funeral. That work is lost, but representations of it exist on paper (fig. i). Why
would an abstract symbol be so necessary in 1582, when the academician were just
upstarts, and be so prominently displayed some twenty years later? Did other
academies of art have imprese? And, most importantly, what did the device mean
both literally and symbolically to the Carracci and their circle?
While the Carracci seem to have modeled their Academy after the Accademia
del Disegno, they also found inspiration in literary academies. In 1559 Ludovico
Domenichi wrote that throughout Italy there were literary academies with emblems:
“sono state a di nostri, & hoggi anchora sono in piedi in Italia tante konoratte Academie, &
raunaza cfhuomini virtuosi <blitterati, che havendo tu tti bellissimi concetti, ragjionevolmente
debbono haver fa tto acutissime imprese.”74 Domenichi clearly associated imprese with
virtue and learned sophistication and the Carracci undoubtedly hoped to appropriate
those values by adopting a comparable symbol, one that contained a sign and motto
or what Domenichi, and the iconographer Paolo Giovio before him, described in as a
“corpo [body]” and an “anima [sole]”.75 Likewise, the name that the Carracci chose
for their Academy, reflects the practices o f literary institutions, but some confusion
exists nowadays about the title of their organization and the term used for its
members. Faberio wrote that:
It was with good reason, then, that it [the Academy] was named the
Academy of the Desirous Ones [Accademia delli Desiderosi], in
recognition o f that ardent desire everyone showed to win acclaim by
means of virtue— a name that lasted until there was public recognition
of the supreme valor of the three Carracci, when the first name was set
72. D. Stephen Pepper, “Bolognese Painting in the Seventeenth Century” in Washington 1986, p.
327-
73. Benedetto Morello in Bologna 1603, p. 7 (rpt. in Bellori 1672, p. 121 [Bellori ed. 1976, p. 135]; and
Malvasia 1678, vol. r, p. 410 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL r, p. 300; transL: Summerscale 2000, pp.
182-83]).
74. Lodovico Domenichi, Ragonamento net qual si parla dim prtst darmi et i f amore (Milan: Giovanni
Antonio de gli Antonii, 1539), p. 11 verso.
7$. Ibid., p. 3verso; and Paolo Giovio, Ragunumento di monsignor Paolo Giovio sopra i motti e disegm
darmt et damore cbe comunemente cbiamano imprest (Venice: Giordano Ziletti, 1556).
40
aside, and thereafter it was always called the Academy of the Carracci,
in acknowledgement of the triumvirate that founded, maintained, and
raised it high, all to the glory and splendor of this city.76
I t was Morello who identified the academicians, the members of the

Accademia delU Desiderosi or Carracci Academy, “as the Incaminati”.77 In fact,
nowhere in the early literature is the Carracci Academy described as the Accademia
degFIncaminati, the title modem historians use so often. The significance of these
distinctions will soon become apparent. W hat is interesting, however, about the
titles Accademia delli Desiderosi (and the incorrect Accademia degFIncaminati as well) is
that neither have obvious artistic significance. The Carracci obviously wanted to
evoke the same sense of ambitiousness and desire one finds in the titles of humanist
institutions. Domenichi named a few of them. The Accademia de gfi Elevati in
Ferrara, whose members were called “SigporiElevati”, had as their impresa one of the
twelve feats of Hercules.78 Then there was the Accademia de Trasformati in Milan,
and the memorable Academia de Sotmacchiosi (literally translatable as the Academy of
the Drowsy Ones) in Bologna, which convened only five months out of the year and
took as its symbol a sleeping bear.79
Apparently, the Accademia delli Desiderosi was the first academy of art with an
impresa of its own. In 1597, the Accademia delDisegno in Florence rejected the winged
bull (the traditional sign of Saint Luke) it had inherited from the painters’ guild, or
Compagnia di S. Luca, in favor of a device based of the rings of Michelangelo. The
academicians replaced the sculptor’s ruote with three circles, one each of laurei, oak,
and olive, representing the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture,
respectively.80 Likewise, Federico Zuccaro, a founding member of the Accademia di
San Luca in Rome (established in 1593), discussed the institution’s impresa in his
famous book L ’idea de’p ittori, scultori ed arcbitetti..., of 1607. The passage and the
76. Lucio Faberio in Bologna 1603, p. 34 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 428 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL
1, p. 308; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 201D.
77. Morello in Bologna 1603, p. 3 (rpt. in Bellori 1672, p. 119 [Bellori ed. 1976, p. 133}; and Malvasia
1678, voL 1, p. 409 [Malvasia ea. 1841, vol 1, p. 299). See the text referred to in footnote 11
above.
78. Domenichi 1359, p. 11.
79. Ibid., pp. n-12.
80. See Mostra documentaria e iconografUa dell'Accademia delle arti del disegno, exh. cat., Florence,
Archivio di Stato (Florence: n.p., 1963), p. 5.
4*
device themselves are not well-known, but Zuccaro described the symbol as a
lantern with three openings and coundess points of light brilliantly shining through
the tiny perforations on its top.81 He explained that the three illuminated panels on
the sides of the lamp each signified the arts o f painting, sculpture and architecture
and that the beams emitted from the top represented “il turn del Disegno” or the
complex “discorsf’ conducted in his academy.
T he motive underlying Agostino’s invention of an emblematic device solely

for his family—one, only slighdy different from that of the Academy—was not lost on
Bellori. “In order to elevate himself from his humble fortune,” the biographer wrote,
“Agostino conferred nobility on the Carracci family by means of an impresa of the
celestial chariot, composed of seven stars of the Constellation of the Bear [lesette stelle
dell’Orsa], making it the impresa and coat of arms of his family.”82 In astronomy the
formation Ursa M aior (fig. 2), which Bellori and others also called the Great Bear, was
more commonly known in the Seicento as the Great Cart since the configuration of
stars approximates the outlines of a carriage. T h e North Star is situated near its apex.
Today, we know the celestial landmark as the Big Dipper. By using the constellation
as an emblem, the Carracci played on their nam e and the Italian word for cart, which
is carro (Latin: carrus) but in doing so, they also alluded to celestial feme: il Gran
Carro—T he Great Carracci.83
But, by inventing a coat-of-arms the trio also mimicked three famous artists:
Titian, Michelangelo, and Baccio Bandineili, who had made imprese o f their own.
Those devices had been mentioned in books published before 1570, where the
Carracci could have read about them. Bandinelli’s was the first to be published, in
1555, and was described as a large piece of fine crystal imbedded in a rock ledge with
81. “Dove cbt nell’impresa della nostra Academia di Roma, cbe e una lantema, cbe bd tre sportelli, e molti
spiragU (fogniintomo, sotto, e sopra, da’quali tutti spira suora il lume; ma principalmente, e cbiaramente
ci dimostrano li tre sportelli significatiper le treprofessions sudette Pittura, Scuftura & Arcbitettura, e li
speragli, cbeservano ad allumare, &vivificare, aptresso tutte le altre scienze, e pratticbe, e questo tutto
accenna il lume del Disegno intellettiuo, speculatiuo, e prattico, naturale, & artificiale, sensitiuo,
fantastico, reale, cbe tutto intutte le maniere nominato ad spirito, & vita a tutte le operations, &
intelligence humane, come ne’discorsifa tti in quella Academia di Roma e notato” (Federico Zuccari
[Zuccaro], L ’idea de’p ittori, scultori ed arcbttetti del cavalier Federigp Zttccaro [Turin: Agostino
Disserolio, 1607}, p.16-17).
82. Bellori 1672, p. 114 (Bellori ed. 1976, p. 125; transL: Enggass 1964, p. 101).
83. Ibid. (Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 411 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 300]). See also Goldstein 1988),
pp. 49 and 209, nn. 1-4.
42
the motto: E X GLACIE CRISTALLVS E V A SlM Titian’s emblem (fig. 3) was a she-bear
licking her cub and bore the inscription: NATURA POTENTIOR ARS [Nature Dominates
A rt]. Gail Feigenbaum pointed out that Titian used the bear as his impresa “because
the she-bear’s offspring was thought to have been bom without form, and then
licked into shape by the mother, just as the artist improved on nature by giving form
to nature’s raw material.”85 An engraving of the symbol, along with a sonnet by
Ludovico Dolce, was among the illustrations in a popular book of emblems by Battista
Pittoni, first published in 1562. Michelangelo chose triple, interlocking circles, or
“buone rote” (as in Michelangelo Buonarotti), that alluded to perfection and
perpetuity.86 All three artists, Bandinelli Michelangelo, and Titian, shared at least
one outstanding trait: an extensive history of striving to establish themselves as
nobility that was documented by the 1570s. In his memories, which he began in
1552, Bandinelli claimed to be a descendant of Pope Alexander III (Orlando
Bandinelli) and Sienese nobility whose surname he adopted in lieu of his birth name.
He married an aristocratic woman and received a knighthood from Emperor Charles
V of Spain.87 Michelangelo associated himself with the Counts of Canossa88 and
Titian was bom of a noble family.89
Mario Di Giampaolo recently published an elegant drawing in the Musee

Calvet, Avignon, that he believed Ludovico had made for the frontispiece of a book
84. “Portme ancbora alpmposito suo il Cavallier Baccto Bandinelli molta eccellente statuario Fiorentino, il
quale per sua virtu, etfamose opere e riuscito, et nobile et ricco, et gratissimo al principe, il Sig. Duca
Cosmo, la quale impresa e unagrossa massa diftmssimo cristallo il quale pede da una asprssima balza di
Montagna, con un motto cbe due, E X GLACIE CRISTALLUS EVASI, testimonio della sua molta
modesUa, etpretiosa virtu. Equestaimpresa e inventione di M. Giulio Giovio mio coadiutore & nepote"
(Paolo Giovio, Dialogo dell’imprese m ilitari et amorose di Monsignor Paolo Giovio, Vescovo di
Nucera... {Rome Antonio Barre, 1555], pp. 140-41).
85. Gail Feigenbaum, “Practice in the Artist’s Carracci Academy” in The Artist’s Workshop, Studies
in the History o fA rt (,Studies in the History o f A rt XXXVIII), pp. 59-76 (Washington D. C.: The
National Gallery of Art, 1993).
86. See Vasari 1568, vol 3, pt. 3, chapt. 155 IfV ita di Micbelangplo Buonarruoti Fiorentino pittore,
scultore, &ardntettorew), p. 794; ana Paul Barolsky, Michelangelo’s Nose: A Myth and Its Maker
(University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990), pp. 128 and 130-34.
87. See Margot and Rudolf Wittkower, Bom Under Saturn. The Character and Conduct o f Artists: a
DocumentedHistoryfrom Antiquity to the French Revolution (New York: Random House, 1963), pp.
230; and Ronald w . Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli (Berkeley: University of California Press, 197©,
voL 2, pp. 28-29, under cat. no. B15.
88. See Paul Barolsky, The Faun in the Garden: Michelangelo and the Poetic Origins o f Italian
Renaissance A rt (University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994), pp. 1-12.
43
on astronomy or an academic thesis (fig. 4).9° It shows two female figures standing
on a ornamental, architectural framework and flanking a central tablet bearing a
banner and a circle containing stars. Wrongly identified as Victories in an earlier
inventory, the woman on the left holds a laurel wreath in her right hand and a brush
and palette in her right whereas her counterpart supports a similar wreath in each
hand, which means they represent the triumph of Painting and Poetry. T he starry
globe and scroll above it could only be the impresa of the Carracci Academy. The
inclusion of the two allegories strongly suggests that the drawing relates to Agostino’s
funeral, when numerous references were made to his duel talents as a painter and
poet.
The stars in Ludovico’s drawing are rendered in a sketchy manner suggesting

that in the impresa they were not arranged in a particular order. A much clearer
image of the Academy’s device appears in an engraved announcement of a meeting
o f the Academy (fig. 5) ascribed to Francesco Brizio (1575-1623). There, too, the stars
seem quite random, but on closer inspection one finds a group of seven points on
the left (fig. 6): four in the shape of a square and three in a row above them. They
clearly represent the Gran Carro with the N orth Star located near the northern axis
o f the sphere, indicated by an inscribed, diagonal line. In fact, the tiny illustration
reproduces the coordinates of stars in that portion of the northern sky as it was
reproduces in charts of the period (fig. 7) and is better known today. T he integration
o f the artists’ personal emblem into the Academy’s impresa is perfectly
understandable; they must have seem themselves as an integral part o f the artistic
constellation but one that possessed the key to navigating the way. In symbolic
terms that key was the N orth Star and the references to the Carracci as leaders and
th e academicians, or, more precisely, Incaminati, as path-seekers was conjured up
again in the academy’s tribute to Agostino. Benedetto Morello characterized the
followers of the Carracci as men “having set out on the path guided by the infallible
lodestar of the three Carracci, the truest lights of the arts of design, who were the
89. See Vasari 1568, vol. 3, pt. 3b, chapt. 157 (TDescrizione delTopere di Tiziatto da Cador Pittore”, p.
805.
90. Avignon, Musde Calvet, inv. no. 996-7-298. Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash,
heightened with white. 189 x 162 mm.; Disegni della Donazione Marcel Puecb al Museo Calvet di
Avtgnone, ed. Sylvie Bdguin, Mario Di Giampaolo, and Philippe Malgouyres, vol 1 (Naples:
Paparo, 1998), p. 114, no. 57, ilL
44
sole restorers of the true way of painting in their homeland (not to speak of
abroad)”^ 1
91. B. Morello in Bologna, 1603, p. 5 (rpt. in Bellori 1672, p. 120 [Bellori ed. 1976, p. 134]*, and
Malvasia 1678, vol 1, p. 409 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 299; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 181}).
C h a pt e r T h r e e
L e a r n in g T o M aster A N ew T r a d e
INTRODUCTION: LEARNING ABOUT THE CARRACCI
...we will attend to the study of these beautiful things...let us apply ourselves to
learn this beautiful style, as this will be our trade (Annibale Carracci)1
udovico Carracci was baptized on April 19, 1555 in the cathedral o f Bologna,
L where Agostino and Annibale were later christened on August 16, 1557 and
November 3, 1560, respectively.2 For several generations members of the
Carracci had worked as tailors, even before the artists’ great grandfather moved to
Bologna from Cremona in the fourteenth century .3 Antonio Carracci (d. 1593),
Agostino and Annibale’s father, pursued the needle trade as did their mother’s
1. Lost letter dated April 28, 1580 from Annibale Carracci in Parma to Ludovico Carracci in
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, vol 1, p. 366 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 269; transl:
Washington 1979, p. 510]).
2. “tyty- die 19. Aprilis. /Ludouicusf. Vtncentii de Mediolano Becvarii Cap. S. Lucie bapt. die quo supra
Comp. / loannes Baptista Paganellus, & Franciscus Antonis LocateUi." (as transc. in Malvasia 1678,
voL 1, p. 455 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 326, with slight differences in spelling]). The precise
date or Ludovico’s baptism has been an issue of some confusion. The date is given as April 21
in a seventeenth-century copy of the baptismal ledger the date was transcribed and was
published as such in Michelangelo Gualanai, ed., Memorie origmali italiane risguardanti le belle
arts, voL 1 (Bologna: J. Marsigli, 1840), p. 52 (the citation is reprinted in Malvasia ed. 1841, p.
326, n. 2). This later date was accepted in Bologna 1956a, p. 67, and by Anna Stanzani (“Regesto
delle vita e delle opere,” in Bologna/Fort W orth 199300. 199, a r) who incorrectly reported
that Gualandi reproduced the date as April 22,1555. The reference to “Mediolano” (Milan’s
mediaeval name) in the transcription given above alludes to the family’s Lombard heritage,
see Bologna 1956a, p. 67.
3. For a history of the Carracci family see Zapperi 1989, pp. 3-24. Cremona, located seventy-five
miles to the northwest of Bologna, was known for its fine cottons, woolens, and other fabrics
and thus was an economic center for haberdashers, dressmakers, and other cloth workers (see
Giovanni Vigo, “Cremona nel Cinquecento,” in I Campi e la cuhtura artistica cremontse del
Cinquecento, exh. cat. ed. by Mina Gregori, Cremona, Santa Maria della Pieta, Vecchio
Ospedale, Museo Civico, and Sala Malafredini [Milan; Electa, 1985}, pp. 13-18).
45
46
relatives.4 The entire family lived together in a compound of three houses (located
on the Via Righi Augusto) that included a store where Antonio, “a fine man who was
on very familiar terms with the nobility and citizens who were customers at his tailor
shop”, according to Malvasia, worked cloth with his brother, Carlo.5 Another sibling,
Vincenzo Carracci (d. 1593), also lived on the property with his wife and
children—among them Ludovico. But unlike his brothers, Vincenzo was a butcher
probably because he had married into the trade.6
It was then a common practice for sons of shopkeepers to apprentice with

their fathers and continue in their footsteps. Guilds encouraged the transfer of skills
from generation to generation; in fact, many also admitted the young sons of
members into their fold. Vincenzo, anticipating that Ludovico would be a butcher
too, enrolled him and his elder son Gian Maria in the A rte dei Beccai (Guild of
Butchers) on February 19, 1561.7 Ludovico and Gian Maria were ages five and
thirteen, respectively. Similarly, Malvasia reported that after Annibale left grammar
school, he worked for a short period in Antonio’s tailor shop before he studied art
under Ludovico’s tutelage following a brief apprenticeship with a goldsmith. As
4. Antonio married Isabella di Gaspare Zenzanini (d. 1602) in 1546 (Bologna, Archivio di StatoMS
Cartari, 5.2.2,19 Febbraio 1552, according to Zapperi 1989, pp. 8 and 21, a 8). Three of Isabella’s
brothers are listed as members of the Corporazione degu Strazzaroli (the Drapery-Maker’s
Guild) in 1560, and although the occupation of Isabella’s rather is not known, he may also have
been involved in the cloth business (ibid).
5. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 360 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 265; transl: Summerscale 1995, p. 140).
The Via Righi Augusto, which still exists, was located near the Campo del Mercato (today’s
Piazza dell’Otto Agosto), a large, open field then used as a temporary market place and, on
Saturdays, as a trading ground for livestock. A description of the site appears in Giovanni N.
Pascjuali, INSTUTIONE DELLE COSE NOTABILI DELLA CITTA DI BOLOGNA, & altre
parttcolari; Con tutte le memorie Anticbe, cbe f i ritrovano nella Citta, e Conth, Et alcune altre cafe
curiofe, Bologna: Nicolo Tebaldini, 1621, p. 9: “In esso Campo se gli fi mercato di bestie grosse
ogni Sabbato in dopo pranzo pure che non sia giomo festivo, e aljpiu del le volte vi sono da due
milla paia di bestie, come Vacche, Buoi, & inftniti porci, & asini .
6. Francesca Grimaldi (1527-1609), the daughter of a pork butcher, was seventeen years old when
she married Vincenzo in 1544. Their marriage certificate is preserved in Bologna, Archivio di
Stato MS Archivio notarile, Notaw Pietro Antonio Stancari, 6.5.6,14 Nov. 1544 (where Francesca’s
dowry is given as £ 400); according to Zapperi 1989, pp. 8 and 21, a 8. The couple already had
at least two daughters when Agostino was bom and before Annibale’s birth another boy given
the same name died as an infant.
7. Bologna, Archivio di StatoMS Commune, Cabitano del Popolo, Liber Matricularum IV (1410-1796),
foL 227V. See Mario Fanti 1 9 8 0 , pp. 158 ana 163, a 95; Zapperi 1 9 8 9 , p. 11; and Anna Stanzani in
Bologna 1 9 9 3 , P- 2° 2* Ludovico was the third of Vincenzo and Isabella’s six children. Their
first child, named Giulio Cesare, apparently died in his infancy. Gian Maria was baptised on 6
June 1547, according to Zapperi 1 9 8 9 , in the introduction to the “Genealogie” reproduced
47
children, Ludovico and his cousins lived in close quarters until 1563, when Vincenzo
moved into a nearby house of his own with his family.8 But Vincenzo’s plans for
Ludovico’s future never succeeded and the boy studied with the mannerist painter
Prospero Fontana (1512-1597) instead .9 Malvasia mentioned that Ludovico persuaded
Antonio Carracci that Agostino and Annibale should drop out of school, where they
showed little interest in lessons, spending, “all their time covering the margins of
their books and the walls outside with scribbled drawings”.10 Ludovico
recommended that they develop their natural talents “on the same way [he] had
started them [per la stessa via incamminati area]”; in other words, Ludovico was
instrumental in convincing Antonio that his sons should learn to master a new
trade.11
But how did the Carracci become artists of the primo ordine, remembering
Faberio’s accolade that they were “men of fine intellect and of truly virtuous and
noble spirit”?12 Essentially, this was one of the questions that Charles Dempsey
responded to in an important article on the education of artists in Bologna published
almost twenty years ago as a supplement to his book Annibale Carracci and the
Beginnings o f Baroque Style of 1977.13 Dempsey sought “to indicate broadly the
historical and educational context that gave rise to the idea of formalized Academies
of art” in order to clarify the relationship between humanistic theory and the function
of the Carracci Academy, which emulated literary societies and attempted to make
without page numbers at the back of the publication (his for Gian Maria’s baptism is Bologna,
Archivio Arcivescovile, Libri battesimali, foL 304V).
8. Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS 48 (“Documenti originalF), fasc. 7 (18 June 1563). The
following is written in a later hand on the paper binding that houses the document: 1563=18
Giugno. TCompra / di Vincenzo qm Gio: Maria Caraccio, alias Cremona Cittadino, e Bee / cam di
Bologna della Parroccbia di S. M aria Maggjore da Lucrezia I qm Girolamo Fabri Vedova d i Gio:
M aria Pinelli, diuna Casaposta / sotto laParrocbiadiS:M aria Maggiore nella Contrada detta, la
Via / novaper £ 475. / Rogiti di I Gio:Batta Avanzi. / CopfAut:a ; see also Zapperi 1989, p. 9.
9. For Fontana in general see Vera Fortunati Pietrantonio, “Prospero Fontana” in Pittura
bolognese deôo, voL 1(Bologna: Grafis Edizioni, 1986), pp. 339-49; for his activities in Florence
see Mostra di disegni dei Vasari e della sua cercbia, exh. cat. ed. by Paolo Barocchi, Florence,
Gabinetto dei disegni e stampi degli Uffizi (Florence: Olschki, 1964), pp. 58-60.
10. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 360 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 265; transl: Summerscale 1995, p. 140).
11. Ibid, transL: author.
12. Morello in Bologna 1603, p. 5 (rpt. Bellori 1672, p. 120 [ed. 1976, p. 134k and Malvasia 1678, voL 1,
p. 410 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 299; transl: Summerscale 1995, p. 290]).
painting a Liberal Art.H For our purposes, however, Dempsey’s attempts to
understand Agostino’s and Annibale’s level of literacy and to establish that the
brothers were familiar with humanist doctrine and methods of teaching helps explain
why their reform succeeded. Indeed, because of Dempsey’s astute observations,
historians now generally believe that Agostino and Annibale, “had good Latin
grammar school educations that prepared them to invent their own iconographical
programs and th at their academy taught a combination o f theory and practice in a
workshop setting”, to quote Diane DeGrazia.r5 The image of the young brothers as
conversant in Latin, socially connected, aware of art theory, and strongly
independent thinkers has evolved over the past half century due to efforts of many
other scholars.
The idea that both Agostino and Annibale were humanists, of sorts, actually
has little basis in the seventeenth-century literature. On April 18, 1580, Annibale
wrote to Ludovico from Parma about the “petty arguments” that had erupted
between him and his brother in Bologna. “I shall let him say everything he wants
and shall only attend to painting,” Annibale pledged his cousin, pending Agostino’s
arrival in Parma, “and I am sure that he himself will do the same, and will drop all his
theorizing and sophistries, w hich are a waste of time.”16 For his part, Bellori asserted
that Agostino taught himself Latin and that Annibale, “despised ostentation in
people as well as in painting, seeking the company of plain ambitiousless men”,
unlike the high-minded Agostino, who Annibale once admonished with stinging
words: “Remember, Agostino, that you are the son of a tailor”.1? Bellori attributed
another famous retort to Annibale: “Poets paint with words; painters speak with
works [Upoeti dipingono cm leparole, tipittoriparlano con Vopere}.” “That reply wounded
13. See Dempsey 1980.
14. Ibid, p. 557.
15. DeGrazia 1999, p. 293.
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 365 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 269}; transL
Summerscale 1995, p. 156).
17. Bellori 1672, p. 71 (ed. 1976, p. 82; transL: Enggass 1968, p. 58).
49
Agostino in many ways,” Bellori explained, “since he composed verses and esteemed
the title o f poet greatly.”18
How and where did the Carracci acquire the artistic vocabulary to speak as
painters and paint as poets? They did not learn much from Ludovico according to
current wisdom. Aside from discovering his cousins’ talents, Ludovico played only a
minor part in Dempsey’s discussion, supposedly because he was not as well-schooled
as Agostino and Annibale. This view has appeared elsewhere in the m odem
literature. But Malvasia cast Ludovico as the motivating force behind the Reform.
The biographer stressed the role that learning played in their formative years,
describing their early journeys abroad as “studiosi corsi”. According to the Felsina,
upon his return to Bologna, by March 1578, Ludovico opened a studio—a term
derived from the Latin verb studeo, meaning study. There he painted in what
Malvasia called a “studiata maniera”. Francesco Scanelli referred to “gli studiosissimi
Carraccr in his treatise Ilmicrocosmo dellapittura of i657-i9 And as I discussed in the
previous chapter, in the latter half of 1582 the Carracci opened an academia with the
intention of emulating both the Accademia del Disegno and literary academies. All of
these developments underscore the importance that dedicated study, both formal
and informal, assumed during the artists’ earliest years. How they acquired
knowledge, in turn, defined their approaches to making art, affecting how they
shared those ideas amongst themselves, and conveyed them to colleagues and
pupils.
In this chapter, therefore, I seek to understand the early intellectual history of

the Carracci, to trace the meandering paths that Ludovico and his cousins traveled
from being the children of tradesmen to professional artists. For each of them the
route was quite different, as was the rate o f passage. Their gradual progress
benefited from various degrees of formal education, contact with a learned paternal
uncle unknown to most scholars, the rich intellectual atmosphere in Bologna, artistic
apprenticeships with local artists, traveling abroad, copying works by past masters,
and astute working procedures, all of which form the subtext of this chapter and
those that follow.
18. Ibid, p. 31 (ed. 1976, p. 43; transl.: Enggass 1968, p. 16).
19. Francesco Scanelli, Ilmicrocosmo della pittura (Cesena: Neri, 1657), PP- 99 and 337.
50
S t u d ia H u m a n it a t is ? O r C a r l o , T h e O t h e r C a r r a c c i
Renaissance schools sought to teach practical skills for different social roles.
Latin schools taught the Latin that enabled students to go on to university
studies and prepared them for careers in the civil service, the church, or the
highest ranks of society, where a knowledge of Latin was expected.
Vernacular schools taught the essential commercial skills of reading, writing,
abbaco, and bookkeeping. T he two streams prepared boys for different roles
in a fairly rigid social order. Society's leaders learned Latin, those who would
work at commerce or the trades learned vernacular skills. The two streams
obviously reinforced existing social divisions. But they also facilitated a little
upward mobility. Boys of modest circumstances fortunate enough to join the
Latin stream almost automatically climbed a few rungs up the social ladder.
(Paul F. Grendler)20
he early historians of art were keenly aware of the premium their readers
T placed on advanced education. If an author knew that an artist was

particularly learned or had been schooled in Latin, he stated so in the
artist’s biography.21 In addition to the personal advantages and financial gains that a
Latin education afforded youths, the studia humanitatis or humanist curriculum was
thought to instill in students a sense of morality and civil responsibility—the same
virtues that art theorists and critics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
20. Paul Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1989), p. 409.
21. In an illuminating example of the value he attached to a Latin education, Vasari boasted about
his own knowledge ofgrammatica. He recalled his introduction to Cardinal Silvio Passerini, a
Papal Legate passing through Vasari’s native Arezzo in 1523. “And the Cardinal, finding that
the boy [Vasari}, who was not more than nine years o f age [my emphasis], had been so well
ounded in his first letters by the diligence of M. Antonio da Saccone and of Messer
g iovanni Pollastra, an excellent poet of the Arezzo, that he knew by heart a great part of the
M neid of Virgil, which he was pleased to hear him recite” (Vasari 1568, vol. 3, p t 3b, chapt.
152 [“V ita di Francesco detto de’Salviatipittori Fiorentino»”}, p. 626 [transl.: De Vere 1996, vol. 2,
pp. 555-56}). Upon learning that Vasari could draw, the Cardinal suggested he go to Florence,
where the boy studied art with Michelangelo and “not neglecting the study of letters, by
order of the Cardinal spent two hour every day with Ippolito and Alessandro de Medici,
under the master Pierio, an able man” (fbtd, p. 556). Now, Vasari’s intellectual
accomplishments were impressive, but, oddly, the account does not appear in his
autobiography but in the vita of his good friend, Francesco Salviati (1510-63), as a prelude to
the events that had lead to their first meeting. And while the historical circumstances that
Vasari recounted were altogether true (Cardinal Passerini was in Arezzo in 1523), one
extraordinary detail stands out in error: Vasari was not nine years old in 1523, but twelve,
having been bom on July 30,1511. This mistake could be attributed to a printer’s error, were
his age given as a digit in the original text, however, it was spelled o ut It seems, instead,
that th e author liecf about his age in order to make himself a more precocious Latinist;
indeed, nowhere in his book did Vasari give the exact year of his birth.
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
51
wished to convey in their writings.22 O n the other hand, biographers rarely wasted
time or space mentioning lower education.^ Apparently most boys received at least
basic instruction in the vernacular before they learned a trade, whether from a family
member or from someone else.^
Malvasia was virtually silent about Ludovico’s schooling. Given that Vincenzo
Carracci expected his son to become a butcher, Ludovico probably learned skills that
a shopkeeper needed: namely the ability to read and write in Italian, keep record
books, and do the business arithmetic known as abbaco? 5 The boy, therefore, may
have attended the Scuola di leggere e scrivere, which was devoted to teaching the
vernacular curriculum. Ludovico certainly knew how to read and write Italian,
although his abilities composing professional letters have been characterized as
deficient.26 Gail Feigenbaum observed that Ludovico’s writing style was generally
“unrefined”, citing his poor command of grammar. She noted too that he wrote in
Italian rather than Latin, but even the most accomplished Latinists corresponded in
22. See Paul F. Gehl, A MoralArt: Grammar, Society, and Culture in Trecento Florence (Ithaca, N.Y.,
1993), for a discussion of the earlier precedents.
23. “The artist’s attendance of primary school is generally not intended by the biographer as a
mark of distinction that would buttress their arguments of the nobility of the fine arts.
Rather, the stories of the future artists’ schooling are generally of an anecdotal nature
serving to illustrate another point” (Evonne Levy, “Ideal and Reality of the Learned Artist:
The Schooling o f Italian ana Netherlandish Artists,” in Children o f Mercury. The Education o f
A rtists in die Sixteen and Seventeenth Centuries, exh. cat., Providence, Rl, Bell Gallery, List Art
Center, Brown University [Providence: Dept, of Art, Brown University, 1984}, pp. 22-23).
24. Vasari’s comments about Sandro Botticelli’s early years illustrate this, although, the
biographer’s point was to underscore the futility of the boy’s schooling not that he was
schooled. Sandro’s father saw to it that his son was, “instructed in all those things that are
usually taught to children before they are old enough to be apprenticed to some calling. But
although he [Sandro] found it easy to learn whatever he wished, nevertheless he was ever
restless, nor was he contented with any of the learning, whether reading, writing, or
arithmetic [abbacoY (“Vita di Sandro Botticello pittor Fiorentino” in Vasari 1568, voL 1, pt. 2,
chapt. 71, p. 470, [ed. 1996, transl. De Vere, vol. 1, p. 535}). Parents, of course, wanted their
boys to be prepared intellectually for life employment. In Alessandro Lamo’s 1584 biography
of th e Cremonese painter Bernardino Campi (1522-1591) this is all too evident: “As is usual
with fathers once his young son had easily learned how to read and write, he made him apply
his talents to his own occupation of designing and making works in low relief which any
goldsmith must know to do” (Alessandro Lamo, Discorso intomo alia scultura, et pittura fatte da
Bernardino Campo (Cremona: Guidi all’Ancona, 1584), p. 28 [transl: Robert Klein ana Henri
Zerner, Italian A rt, i$oo-i6oo: Sources and Documents, 2nd ed., {Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-
Hall Inc: 1989}, p. 152]).
25. For a discussion of the skills taught to merchants see Grendler 1989, pp. 306-29.
26. Some thirty six letters by him survive in Italian archives, of which many were published in
the Felsina pittrice or in Giovanni Bottari, Raccolta di lettere sulla pittura, scultura ed acbitettura
scritte da’p iu celebripersonaggi dei secoliX V I e X V II, voL 1 (Rome: Pasquino, 1754).
52
Italian .27 T he historian Carlo Sigonio (1523-1584), for example apparently preferred to
write in his native tongue.28 M ore revealing is the fact Malvasia himself commented
on the untidy prose found in one of the letters by Ludovico that he published in the
Felsinapittrice. Malvasia apologized to his readers because the text began with “many
long, badly put together, and badly written salutations” because Ludovico had never
“studied such things” and was“too dedicated only to drawing and painting”.^ Even
though Ludovico was not book-smart in the classic sense, he occasionally signed
prints and paintings using the Latinized form of his name, undoubtedly knowing foil
well the social implications of doing so.
In recent years, scholars have become increasingly interested in primary and

secondary schooling during the Italian Renaissance—bu t this rich field is not
without its own controversies and unfurrowed tracts.3° M ost research has focused
on defining aspects of the Latin curriculum, which was available to relatively few boys
and a m uch smaller number of girls in Renaissance Italy. O ne could employ a private
tutor or attend the Scuola di grammatica—or Latin school—where children first
learned to read and speak Latin {grammatica) and then studied Latin grammar and
classical texts.31 For art historians, however, Giorgio Vasari’s Lives is an unparalleled
27. See Gail Feigenbaum in Bologna/Fort W orth 1993, p. LXXXV (ed. 1994., p. XXLVII). For the
letters see Perini 1990, pp. 104-47.
28. See the letters by Sigonio published in William McCuaig, Carlo Sigottio: Tbe Changing World o f
the Late Renaisssance (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), pp. 327-44.
29. uDopo dumpie molte e lungbe cerimonie malposte assieme e malscrisse (non avendovi matfa tf egli studio,
troppo deduatosi al solo dtsegnare e dibengere)” (Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 446 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol.
1, p. 320; transl.: Summerscale 1996, p. 360]).
30. See Eugenio Garin, L ’educazione in Europa (1400-1600): problemi e programmi, 1. ed. (Bari:
Laterza, 1957); Grendler 1989; Robert Black, “Italian Renaissance Education: Changing
Perspectives and Continuing Controversies,'"Journaloftbe History o fIdeas Lll (1990) pp. 315-34;
idem, “The Curriculum of the Italian Elementary and Grammar Schools” in Tbe Shapes o f
Knowledge from tbe Renaissance to tbe Enlightenment (International Archives o f tbe History o f Ideas
124), ed. D. R. Kelley and R. H. Popkin (Dordrecht and Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers,
1991); and Paul F. Grendler, “Reply to Robert Black,”Journal o ftbe History o fIdeas LI I (1991),
PP- 335-37-
31. Although the fee for the scuola was relatively small, it was significant enough to dissuade
some potential students as was th e case with the brothers Antonio and Piero Pollaiuolo who
possessed “good and acute intelligence”. Unfortunately, their father was of “humble station
and not great wealth”, so he did not have “the means to educate them in letters”. Therefore,
according to Vasari, Antonio apprenticed with the goldsmith Bartoluccio Ghiberti, and Piero
with Andrea dal Castagno. (‘V ita d.'Antonio, & Piero Pollaiuoli pittori, & scultori FiorentinT in
Vasari 1568, vol 1, pt. 2, chapt. 71, p. 466 [transL: De Vere 1996, vol 1, p. 529). A similarly
situation befell Bramante, a man “of poor but honest parentage”. “In his childhood, besides
source of information on the types of education artists received and how Vasari, at
least, valued humanist instruction. His observations not only reflect the social codes
that Grendler summarized in the quote cited above, but they also offered subsequent
artists intellectual models to emulate or exceed.32 A humanistic education was
intellectually demanding and had to suit a pupil’s temperament. W e learn from
Vasari that Leonardo, for example, did not have the disposition to continue his
studies “in the rudiments of letters ”.33 Those few artists bom to noble or merchant
families, even in more provincial territories, were likely to have been trained in
Latin.34 A n orphaned child from a wealthy family might be taught gram m atical as
were youngsters from rich families that had fallen on hard times.36 A wealthy artist,
reading and writing, he gave much attention to arithmetic; but his father, who had much need
that he should earn money, perceiving that he delighted much in drawing and applied him,
when still a boy, to the art of painting” (“Vita di Bramante da Urbino arcbitettore in Vasari
1568, vol. 2, pt. 3a, chapt. 86, p. 28 {transl.: De Vere 1996, vol. 1, p. 660]).
32. “At th e most fundamental level the future artist who went to school to learn to read and
write in his mother tongue was a product of his society’s values and demands. A multitude of
developments before and during the sixteenth century necessarily promoted learning in
modern society for purely practical reasons; these developments include greater social
mobility and a growing functional dependency on the printed word. In both Italy and the
Netherlands education was available and financially accessible to those families of the middle
class that saw formal learning as desirable and even necessary. (Levy in Providence 1984, pp.
22-23).
33. “...he would have made great proficiency, if he had not been so variable and unstable, for he
set himself to learn many things, and then, after having begun them, abandoned them. Thus,
in arithmetic, during the few months that he studied it, he made so much progress, that by
continually suggesting doubts and difficulties to the master who was teaching mm, he would
very often bewilder mm” (Vasari 1568, voL 2, pt. 3a, chapt. 83 [aV itadi Uonardo da Vincipittore,
et scultore Fiorentino”], p. 2 {transl.: De Vere 1996, vol. 1, pp. 625-26}).
34. The miniaturist Giulio Clovio, bom of a distinguished family in Croatia, “gave his attention to
letters” as a child prior to traveling to Italy as a trained artist at the age of eighteen (Vasari
1568, v ol 3, pt. 3b, chapt 159 {‘V ita d i Don Giulio Clario miniatore”], p. 849 {transl.: De Vere
1996, vol. 2, p. 849]).
35. For instance, Jacopo da Pontormo was orphaned at nine years of age and lived with his wealthy
maternal grandmother, who “had him taught reading, writing, ana the first rudiments of Latin
grammar If prim i principij della grammatica latino}”. Pontormo’s extended family had enough
money, to afford him a guardian when the boy was taken at the age of thirteen to live in
Florence, where the small property that he had inherited from his father was located.
Shortly thereafter he joined the studio of Leonardo da Vinci, and then the workshop of
Mariotto Albertinelli (Vasari 1568, vol. 3, pt. 3b, chapt. 140 [“Vita di Iacopo da Pontormo Pitt.
Fiorentino.”}, p. 475 {transl.: De Vere 1996, vol. 2, pp. 340-41I).
36. Despite the “poor circumstances” and “slender revenues” of his once well-off family,
Michelangelo also “was placed to be schooled in grammar with Maestro Francesco da
Urbino”. His father was a civic official, but with his post finished, he “set about apprenticing
his sons to the Guild of Silk and Wool” before Michelangelo was schooled, “when ne was well
grown” {‘Vita di Micbelangolo BuonarruotiFiorentinopittore, scultore, 6"arcbitettore” in Vasari 1568,
voL 3, p t 3b, chapt 155, pp. 716-17 {transL: De Vere 1996, vol 1, p. 643D.
54
too, could send his son to grammar school.37 Real poverty and family misfortune did
not necessarily prevent boys from learning Latin; in rare cases poor children received
a free education in a communal school or a religious order, but, again, the youngster
had to be a willing and able student.38 Despite the range of situations presented in
Vasari’s book, at least one conclusion can be drawn: that all of the artists who
received a Latin education, however brief, were initially intended to assume
professional careers.
Malvasia specifically stated that Agostino and Annibale attended the Scuola di
grammatica, a remark that strongly suggests that they were bound for professional
careers. But tradition has it that the Carracci were of modest means, although of
noble spirit, and one would assume that this was so because of their unpretentious
occupations. Actually, though, the tradition is wrong. My own research into the
activities of another close family member, Carlo Carracci, the trio’s uncle, paints a
different picture. Very little has been written about Carlo. H e actually went by the
name Carlo Carazzi, and was called II Cremona, after the city from which the Carracci
originally came. H e was the brother of Antonio and Vincenzo and, like Antonio, he
was initially a tailor by trade. His birth and death dates are not known, but Carlo
claimed to be the eldest son (“filtj mag.ri”) in a document of 1560.39 In 1554, Carlo
seems to have left the family workshop he had shared with his brother (Vincenzo
37. Presumably it was Girolamo Genga’s financial success as a painter that allowed his son,
Bartolomeo, to “learn grammar” “when he was well grown” and achieved “more than ordinary
proficiency.” Despite his linguistic skills Bartolomeo took up his studies of art “when he was
eighteen years of age” (Vasari 1568, vol. z,pt. 3d, chapt. 140 (“Vita di Girolamo, i f d i Bartolomeo
Genga, ifd i Giovameat. S. Marino genero di Girolamo”], p. 211 [transl: ed. 1996, vol. 2, pp. 387-88}).
38. On the subject of free schooling see Grendler 1989, pp. 104-106 and, for the situation in
Bologna, p. 390. Orphaned at the age of two, Fra Filippo Lippi lived with his aunt who placed
him in a Carmelite Convent when he was only eight years old. But, despite being exposed to
a Latin education and instruction in sacred doctrine, Filippo was “dull and incapable of making
any progress in the learning of letters so that he would never apply his intelligence to them
or regard them as anything save his enemies” (Vasari 1568, vol. 1, pt. 2, chapt. 53 \?Vita di Fra
Filippo Lippi, pittore Fiorentino”], pp. 385-86 [transL: De Vere 1996, vol. 1, p. 435D. For a
summary account of religious instruction in fifteenth-century Italy see Grendler 1989, pp. 333-
34-
39. Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS. 48 (JDocumenti original*), fasc. 5, (15 Nov. 1560), fol ir,
wherein Carlo claimed to by the eldest. The following is written in a later hand on the paper
binding that houses the document: i;6o= 15Novembre. / Deposizione / di Testimony circa la quauta,
e condizione d i Carlo <f* Gio: I M aria Caracci, alias Cremona, ad effetto di essere aggregato / a lt Arte
de’Strazzaroli di Bologna. / Copia.; Zapperi claimed that Vincenzo was “il primogenito”, the
brothers’ specific birthdates are unknown (see Zapperi 1989, p. 8).
55
having become a butcher) 4° and then married Francesca Avanzi, in 1557 They had at
least one son, named Marc’ Antonio, who was baptized on October 10, 1566.41 In
1560, Carlo became an aggregate, or fellow, of the Arte de’ strazzaroli di Bologna (the
guild of drapery makers). That required a deposition testifying to the high quality of
his workmanship and a resolution passed in favor of his application (both of which
still exist) M Carlo also became quite successful, purchasing a large house in the
parish of San Martino in 1573 for the considerable sum of 2,700 Itre.Ai Ludovico
painted a fresco of Hercules and the Hydra (London, Victoria and Albert Museum)
over the chimney in the house, which he dated 1594.44 Today the painting,
detached from the wall in the late seventeenth- or very early eighteen-century, is
hardly noticeable where it hangs in the Victoria and Albert Museum, but Malvasia
characterized the work as “proof in itself of how great a painter Ludovico was—a
painter who has never been equaled and will never be surpassed either in design or
in color.”45
Ludovico’s choice of subject matter for the chimneypiece was perfectly

appropriate. In addition to his professional pursuits, Carlo was a mathematician,
40. Bologna, Archivio di Stato MS Arcbivionotarile, NotaioEmete Cartari, busta 85 (12 March 1554);
according to Zapperi 1989, p. 8 and p. 21, n. 8.
41. For the dowry see Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS 48 (Documenti originals), fasc. 4 (14 Feb.
1557). The following is written in a later hand on the paper binding that houses the document:
J£j7= 14Fdre. / Dote / di Francesca qm Angelo Avanzi, Moglie di Carlo qm Gio. Maria / Caracci,
alias Cremone Sartore, dalla Parrocbia di S- Tommaso / del Mercato in £ 800. / Rogito di / Cesare
Gerardi. / Autentico.
42. Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS 48 (“Documenti originalD, fasc. 5 (15 Nov. 1560), see n. 54,
above; and fasc. 6 (15 Nov. 1560). The following is written in a later hand on the paper binding
that houses the document: i f 60= ifX bre / Partito / dell Arte de Strazzaroli per tadmissione di
Carlo qm Gio M aria / Caracci, alias da Cremona,passato a votiprimi.
43. Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS 48 (^Documentioriginalf7), fasc. 9 (5 May 1573). The following
is written in a later hand on the paper binding that houses the document: 1573= 5 Maggio /
Compra / d i Carlo <f* Gio:M aria Caracci, cbiamato da Cremona, da Leonardo / Figlio Emancipate di
Zaccaria Rechi di una Casa, posta sotto la Par: / roccbia di S. Martino, per £ 2700. / Rogito di /
Pandolfo Pandolfi / CopAAutA.
44. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. no. 8368-1863, fresco transferred to canvas, 213.5 x
170 cm, See Otto Kurz, “A Forgotten Masterpiece by Ludovico Carracci,” Burlington
Magazine LXX (1937), p. 81; Bodmer 1937, pp. 58 and 124, no. 17, pL 48; and Claus Michael
Kauffmann, Catalogue o fPainting?, 1. Before 1S00 (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973),
pp. 65-66, no. 62, ill.
45. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 463 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 330; transl.: Summerscale 20 0 0, p. 255).
hydraulic engineer, architect, and published author. H e was also a controversial
figure whose reputation is documented not in the art-historical literature on the
Carracci, but in the annals of science and in the history of the Basilica of San
Petronio, Bologna. Carlo wrote a formidable book dealing with flood control entitled,
Modo del dividere Falluvioni da quello di Bartolo et gli agrimensori diverso. Mostrato con
ragioni Mathematiche, & conpratica, published by Giovanni Rossi in Bologna in 1579.
The Bolognese pope, Gregory XIII, a member of the Bonocampagni family, wrote
the official license printed at the front of the book (dated April 29,1579), which was
dedicated to the Pope’s natural son Giacomo Boncompagni, the Marchese of
Vignola and “Generate di Santa Chiesa, &c”. Giacomo would have underwritten the
costs of the publication in exchange for the dedication. Moreover, Boncompagni’s
arms appear prominently on the frontispiece (Fig. 8), which also contains allegorical
figures, one of which represents the river Reno that runs through Bologna. It makes
sense that Carlo would have asked one of his nephews to engrave the titlepage; and
Agostino, who was working for the Bolognese printmaker and publisher Domenico
Tibaldi in 1578, would seem the most likely candidate. But the figures are too stiff
and the burin technique too feeble for Agostino at that date (Fig. 9); the possibility
that Annibale cut the plate is much more likely.46
One realizes the scope of Carlo’s knowledge upon glancing at the complex
formulas that appear throughout the book (Fig. 10) and reading the list of authors
whose works he consulted in preparing it. The classical writers included: Albertus
Magnus, Apollonius Pergeo, Archimedes, Aristotle, Baldus Mensor, Euclid,
Eudemus of Rhodes, Galen, Geminus, Justinus, Menlaus of Alexandra, Onopide,
Piticus, Plutarch, Proclus, and Vitruvius. He also read more recent texts by Giacomo
Berengario da Carpi, Enco d’Ascoli, Copernicus, and Vitello, although the principle
publications that concerned him were those by the fourteenth-century riparian
Bartolus of Sassoforato (1313-57). Bartolus’ book on water rights, Tyberiadis, D. Bartoli
de Saxoferrato...tractus de flum inibus tripartitus..., had been published in Bologna in
46. Two engravings wrongly attributed to Agostino, are in my opinion by Annibale and close in
style to the frontispiece, particularly in the rigidity of the figures, the awkward poses,
flattened toes, and general physiognomy. See the Baptism o f Christ (BXVIII.47.17), which
actually bares Annibale’s signature and has been dated to ca. 1581. Despite the signature, De
Grazia believed that Agostino made the print “following a design by his brother” (see
Washington 1979, pp. 106-107, cat. no. 23, ill). Also see Adam and Eve (BXVIII.y3-54.25), which
is similar to the Baptism of Christ and is dated 1581 (.Ibid., pp. n o -m , cat. no. 25, ilL). Anne
Summerscale cited my earlier belief that Agostino made the title page (Summerscale 2000, p.
255, a 383).
1576- Carlo’s treatise quickly fostered debate; an anonymous “dottore Parmeggfrtno”
disputed his ideas resulting in a formal risposta, published in 1580, and the re
publication o f Carlo’s book in 1581.47
Carlo was involved in deliberations again in the late 1580s, when “tutta la citta"
and even Pope Sixtus V (1521-90) became involved in his dispute with the architect
Francesco Terribilia (Francesco Marani or Morandi, d. 1604) regarding their
respective designs for the vault of San Petronio in Bologna, one of the largest
churches in Italy.48 Plans were made to bring both Carracci and Terribilia to Rome
in 1589, but the trip never occurred and neither of the schemes was adopted. Carlo’s
unrealized proposal survives in a manuscript in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan .49
Carlo Carracci was obviously intelligent, well educated, and a well connected
member of the family before Ludovico and his cousins had distinguished themselves
as artists. As the eldest o f three sons he would have been the first to receive an
education, probably at the expense of his brothers. Carlo’s son became a notary in
August, 1584, at the age of eighteen, which meant that he, at least, had a working
knowledge of Latin and was university educated.?0 Judging from Carlo’s
achievements and the level o f education he must have had, his brother Antonio must
have had high hopes that Agostino and Annibale, apparently his eldest sons, would
and could become professionals rather than shopkeepers.
47. Carlo Carazzi [Carracci], DVBITATIONI D ’A VTORE INCERTO CONTRO IL MODO DEL DIVTDERE
i o n i t r o v a t o DA C a r l o C a r r a z z i detto il Cremona. F t Risposte fatte da lui, con vn
L'a l l w
Difcorfo contra il modo accettato da vn dottore Parmeggian(Bologna: Giovanni Rossi, 1580).
48. uLa disputafra il Terribilia in pro’ delTopera sua e gli aw ersari capitanati da carlo Carrazzi detto il
Cremona aveva appassionata tutta la cittd e presto ne ebbe notizia ancbe il Papa, il quale, secondo le
infrm azioni cbe rtceveva dai partigiani del Terribilia, decretava cbe Vopera continuasse, e poscia, per
ejfrto di altre lettere contrarie del Regamento, cancellava la prima deliberazioe. Abbandonato il
pensiero d i cbiamare a Roma il Terribilia ed il Carrazzi, rimaste senza esito soddisfacente le praticbe
fatteprezzo altri arcbitettieletti arbitri, il Papa, infastidito alT estremo dai clamori, ordino cbe cessasse
ognitntenzione di compiere le volte, cbe si venaessero i materiali accumulati e cbe la somma ritratta fosse
depositataper seryire ad altri bisognidella cbiesa: e cost ognidiscussions tacqueper mold annt* (Angelo
Gatti, Larabbrica di S. Petronio. Indagini storicbe (Bologna: Regia Tipografia, 1889), p. 25; see also
pp. 124-26, nos. 263,266, and 268-70).
49. Carlo Carazzi [Carracci], “Carlo Carracci ditto il Cremona sopra la volta di S. Petronio d i Bologna
lettain Reggfmento...i^8p”, Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana MS Cod. S. 147 sup. Ferrari; see Bodmer
1939, P- Ir5-
50. Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS 48 (“Documenti originalD, fasc. 8 (3 August 1584). The
following is written in a later hand on the paper binding that houses the document: 1584= 3
Agosto. T Admisstone ! di Marc’Antoniofigjliodt Carlo Caracci, alias di Cremona, fra ’li / Notari
M atricolatidi Bologna / Fede autentica.
58
But that was not meant to be. At Ludovico’s suggestion, Antonio withdrew
Annibale from school when the child “had just learned to read and write”.*1
Dempsey rightly observed that Malvasia was probably referring to Annibale’s
command over Latin rather than meaning he was merely literate. Annibale would
have already learned to read and write at home or in the Scuola di leggpre e scrivere
before advancing to the Scuola di gram matical2 Until Dempsey made this
observation, scholars had considered Annibale to be practically unschooled. While
Dempsey dispelled such thoughts, the danger o f overestimating the artists’ literary
skills exists, as Ann Sutherland Harris more recently cautioned:
[Dempsey] believes too that Annibale Carracci was a competent
Latinist, though he had less schooling than his brother Agostino, and
was thought by some to be illiterate because o f Malvasia^ statement
that he left school when “imparato a pena di leggere e scrivere, era
stato preso dal padre in Bottega per aiuto.” Annibale, according to
Dempsey, was then probably eleven. We would not think much or the
education of a man today who left school at that age, whether or not he
had begun to study Latin .*3
Dempsey’s estimate that “Agostino must then have been about fourteen, the
normal age for leaving school, and Annibale was three years y o u n g e r” 54, or about
eleven also seems too ambitious, in light of Malvasia’s testimony that Agostino
executed engravings during his fourteenth year, which obviously implies that he had
already acquired basic printmaking skills by that a g e .55 It seems more reasonable to
assume that the brothers left school in ca. 1569/70, when Agostino was approximately
twelve or thirteen years old and Annibale was aged nine or ten. This might explain
51. *'Annibale, cbe imparato a pena di leggere e scrivere, era stato preso dal padre in bottega per aiuto,
incamminandolo nel suo mestiere, non aveva altro passaggio poi fatto cbe dall'ago al
pennello... "(Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 266]).
52. “W hat Malvasia means is that Annibale left school when he had only just learned to read and
write Latin, for this is what a Scuola di Grammatica is, a Latin school” (Dempsey 1980, pp.
559-60).
53. Ann Sutheland Harris, “Artemisia Gentileschi: The Literate Illiterate or Learning from
Example,” in Docere, Delectare, Movere. A jfetti, devozione e retorica nel linguaggio artistico delprimo
barocco romano. (/itti del convegno orgamzzato dalTIstituto Olandese a Roma e dalla Bibltotbeca
Hertziana [.Max-Planck-Institutj in collaborazione con FUrnversitd Cattolica di Nijmegen, Roma).
(Rome: Edizioni De Luca, 1999), p. 109.
54. “Ludovico, perceiving their talent, urged the boys to withdraw from school to prepare
themselves faor careers as painters, which they did. Agostino would have been about
fourteen, the normal age for leaving school, and Annibale was three years younger” (Dempsey
1980, p. 559).
59
why Annibale spent time working for his father, since his parents may have
considered him still too young to begin an artistic apprenticeship.?6
Bellori, who wrote more about Agostino’s “erudizione delle lettere” than did
Malvasia, offered testimony in strong support of this hypothesis. T he Roman
biographer stated that Agostino “succeeded in comprehending the Latin language”
“per s i solo [by himself]”. H e ultimately “acquired elegance in the Vulgate idiom”,
perhaps meaning his prose were comparable to those used in the Vulgata.57 Bellori
added that Agostino was not content with matters of usage. He taught himself the
subtleties of the language—its rhetoric and poetry—producing discourses, orations,
even songs and verses in Latin that he set to music. My point is that Agostino did
not achieve fluency in school. Unfortunately, none of these letters or sonnets survive
to demonstrate Agostino’s ability as a Latinist nor did any biographers before Bellori
m ention the subject.
How might a knowledge o f Latin have benefited the Carracci? Beside the
annotated volume of Vasari’s Lives, Malvasia reported seeing a “Vergil, with the
summaries written in the margins [by Agostino] at the beginning of each Canto” as
well as a “Cornelius Tacitus, entirely annotated in his hand”, then in private
collections and now lost.58 Vergil’s works were the most studied ancient poems
during the Renaissance, however, and both Latin and Italian editions were
numerous; one Venetian press alone published no fewer than twenty-one
inexpensive editions of Vergil’s poems in Latin between 150: and 1581.59 The
principle argument one finds in the modem literature is that artists schooled in Latin
could have read classical works as well as other erudite texts. Pliny’s N atural History
55. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 362 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL r, p. 266).
56. Ibid., p. 361 (Malvasia ed. 184T, vol. 1, p. 266).
57. Bellori r672, pp. 104-105 (ed. ^76, p. 116; txansl.: p. 92]).
58. T he Virgil was then in the collection of one Giangrandi in Faenza and the Tacitus was among
th e “remarkable books” in the possesion of a certian Onofrio. Malvasia r678, voL r, p. 378
(Malvasia ed. 1841., vol. r, p. 277); see also Bodmer 1939, p. 127. Zapperi was all toâther
sceptical of Malvasia’s claim: “Un po’ di latino Agostino lo sapeve di sicuro e forse piu delle
cinquanta parole che ogni artigiano allora possedeva. Ma che fosse capace di leggere Virgilio
e Tacito nella lingua originale b difficile ammettere per un autodatta come lui” (Zapperi ^89,
p. 30).
59. See Grendler ^89, p. 240.
6o
comes to mind as one of the most frequently cited sources that an artist schooled in
Latin would read. But an Italian version was already available as early as 1473. In the
case o f the Carracci, perhaps the most important classics are those associated with
the story of Jason and the Argonauts, which are thought to have served as primary
sources for the Jason frescoes of 1584.60 Significantly, Italian translations of the
Latin “O des” by Pindar and “Argonautica” by Apollonius Rodius did not exist at the
time, whereas Ovid’s Metamorphoses was issued in the vulgar tongue in 1522.61
Needless to say, the most important art-historical text, Vasari’s Lives was
written in Italian, except for the brief Papal imprimatur in Latin. As he stated in his
concluding remarks, Vasari’s choice of language and simple prose were intended for
all artists to understand:
I have written as a Painter and with the best order and method that I
have been able, and, as for language, in that which I speak, whether it
be Florentine or Tuscan, and in the most easy and facue manner at my
command, leaving the long and ornate period, choice words and other
ornaments of learned speech and writing, to such as have not, as I
have, a hand rather for brushes than for the pen, and a head rather for
design than for writing. And if I have scattered throughout the work
many terms peculiar to our arts, of which the brightest and greatest
lights of our language to avail themselves, I have done this because I
could do no less and in order to be understood by you, my craftsmen,
for whom, chiefly, as I have said, I set myself to the labour.®2
T he efforts that were put into making Vasari’s book more accessible to a vernacular
audience extended beyond linguistic matters. Although the Vhe was an extremely
long anthology, the size of the pages, their layout, even the typeface used (the so-
called “early roman” or “heavy roman” font, which was weightier and less elegant that
the Roman types used for Latin classic) conformed to those employed in popular
books during the fifteenth century .63
60. See Clare Robertson, “I Carracci e l’inventione: osservationi sull’origine dei cicli affrescati di
Palazzo Fava,” Accademia Clementina. A tti e Memorie XXXII (1993), pp. 271-314.
61. Ovid, D i Ovidio Le metamorpbosi, doe, Trasnsutadom: tradotte dal latino diligentemente in volgar
verso, con le sue allegorit, sigmficatione & dicbiaratione delle fabole in firosa (Venice: Zoppino, 1522).
I would like to thank Francesca Savoia for bringing my attention to this edition.
62. See De Vere, voL 2, p. 106.
63. “T h e most important conclusion,” Paul Grendler wrote on the subject, “is that a definite form
existed for popular books. Popular books tended to be small in size, most often 15 x 10 cm.
They were printed in gothic rotunda or early roman letter. Tide pages often appeared in
both typefaces. Popular books might be prmted in one column or two depending on the
6i
T he increasing accessibility of writings on art in the sixteenth century is a

subject well beyond the scope of this study. Although Vasari stripped away the
heavy “ornaments of learned speech and writing” and was almost single-handedly
responsible for the “vulgarization” of art history and theory, his comments about the
contributions of Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) and Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472)
once again demonstrate the judgments he, and no doubt others, made about artists
schooled in letters and those who were not. Alberti was “of the most noble family of
the Alberti...devoted himself not only to studying geography and the proportions of
antiquities, but also to writing, to which he was much inclined, much more than to
working”. H e was also “excellent in arithmetic and geometry”. Ghiberti, however,
came from a working-class family. Because he studied “from his earliest years” with
his father, a goldsmith, one assumes that Ghiberti did not have an advanced
vernacular education or any exposure to the Latin curricula. Nevertheless, Ghiberti
wrote a manuscript “in the vulgar tongue” about art, “J commentarT, covering “many
diverse matters but most valuable in Vasari’s opinion because of its brief account of
art history.64
S t u d iu m Pic t u r e
So great an attraction has the noble art of painting, that many eminent men
have deserted the callings in which they might have become very rich, and,
drawn by the inclination against the wishes o f their parents, have followed the
promptings of their nature and devoted themselves to painting, to sculpture,
or to some similar pursuit. (Giorgio Vasari)6?
manuscript tradition. They tended to be short in length, usually less than zoo pages,
sometimes considerably shorter. A popular book with more pages usually had fewer lines on
each page. Numerous small illustrations graced many, but not all, popular books. This form
dominated the publication of popular books in Italy from the beginning of the incunabular
period until about 1580” (Paul Grendler, “Form and Function in Italian Renaissance popular
books,” Renaissance Quarterly XXXXVI {1993}, p. 483). “Publishers specializing in popular books,
especially such firms as Francesco Bindoni and Mapheo Pasini of Venice (active 1524-51), seem
consciously to have gone back to the earliest roman typefaces used by Italian printers. They
did not employ modem Roman typefaces even though they were widely available” (ibid, p.
4 6 1 ).
64. De Vere 1996, voL 1, p. 306.
65. Vasari 1568, vol 1, pt. 2, chapt. 51 (“Vxta diAlesso Baldovitutti pittore FiorenttruT), p. 379 (transL:
De Vere 1996, voL 1, p. 429).
he decision to trust one’s child to an artist for training must have been a
T difficult one, regardless of the economic status of the family. For wealthy
parents, like those of the painter Alessio Baldovinetti, or Titian, or
Francesco Primaticcio, the low social status of artists at the time would have been a
serious consideration against taking up the profession.66 Moreover, artists were
craftsmen, not scholars. And, despite the efforts of many practitioners to elevate the
business to the heights of the liberal arts, their training would always be hands-on as
opposed to purely intellectual. In Bologna, painters belonged to the same guild as
makers of swords, saddles, and scabbards until 1569, when they broke away from the
other three occupations and, together with dealers of cotton and raw silk (who were
known as bombasart), formed a new society, the Compagnia dei bombasari e pittori.67
For poorer families, a child who was naturally inclined to drawing could face a tough
economic future once his parents decided that he would apprentice to an artist in
lieu of taking up his father’s trade.68 Nonetheless, based on the information that
Vasari provided, those who became artists represented a spectrum of the economic
and educational scales, although, most had one thing in common, namely the
inclination to draw compulsively.
Historically, the majority of artists was either bom into families of craftsmen or
exhibited an aptitude for drawing at an early age, although their fathers practiced
another occupation.^ The latter was certainty the case with Agostino, who was
66. Alessio Baldovinetti, Vasari reported, “abandoned commerce—in which his of relatives had
ever occupied themselves, insomuch that by practicing it honorably they had acquired riches
and lived like noble citizens” (ibid.); for Francesco Primaticcio, an artists of noble birth or
exceptional wealth, see “Descrizbne deWopere di Franc. Primaticcio Bolomese, Abate di s. Martino
pit. o’arcbitetto” in Vasari 1568, voL 3, pt. 3b, chapt. 156, p. 798 (transL: D e Vere 1996, vol. 2, p.
o); and for Titian, who inaugurated nis studies with Giovanni Bellini when he was ten, even
S ough he was “from the family of Vecelli, one of the most noble in that place”, see
“Descrizione delfopere di Tiziano da Cador Pittore” in Vasari 1568, vol 3, pt. 3b, chapt. 157, p. 805
(transl.: De Vere 1996, vol 2, p. 780).
67. For the history of the Compagnia dei pittori see Gian Piero Cammarota, “Cronache della
Compagnia dei pittori,” in DaWavanguardia dei Carracci al secob barocco, exh. cat ed. by Andrea
Emiliani with writings by Grazia Agostino et aL, Bologna, Musco Civico Archeologico
(Bologna, Nuova Alfa, 1988), pp. 53-68. The Compagnia dei Bombasari e Pittori separated into two
guilds in 1598.
68. For a discussion of the economic hardships that artists faced see Wittkower 1963, pp. 253-55.
69. See Gabriele Bleeke-Byme, “The Education of the Painter in the Workshop,” in Providence,
1984, p. 28. and n. 2. See also Martin Wackernagel, The World ofthe Florentine Renaissance A rtist,
transl. A. Luchs (Princeton: Princeton University Press,1981), pp. 304 and 328-29. For the
situation in the Netherlands, during the seventeenth-century see John Michael Montais,
“eager to learn, and assiduous in the exercise of his talents, showing clear signs that
he was by nature especially inclined towards drawing”, as Faberio noted.7° I t is no
surprise that the innate ability to draw is a topos in artists’ biographies beginning with
Vasari’s Lives since disegno (drawing) formed the basis for the arts of painting,
sculpture, and architecture. Chroniclers of art reported on many occasions that the
parents of natural draughtsman, like Agostino, were thereby convinced that their
child should become an artist. Faberio explained:
For whenever he [Agostino] was allowed to play, he commendably
spent every moment of his time making drawings on his own. In this
way good plants show early signs of future fruits in the first flowers they
put forth. His father therefore considered it prudent not to bend the
course of the stream but let it flow along its natural course, and
decided that his son was to devote himself to drawing at all costs...?1
Annibale’s artistic talents, too, appeared at an early age, according to Bellori,

who recounted an episode from the artist’s childhood that combines two additional
leitmotifs common to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century vite: the prodigious ability
to imitate nature perfectly and the opportunity to use that skill to accost evildoers.
Bellori stated that Annibale and his father were once robbed en route home from
Cremona, where Antonio had just sold a small farm. Annibale drew such realistic
and accurate likenesses o f the “villant” that locals and the authorities used them to
identify the thieves and recover the stolen money.72 Naturally, the life-like sketches
astonished all who saw them. T he story clearfy implies that Annibale easily made the
portraits a memoria.
Ludovico seemed to have been an exception to the rule at a time when

talented artists were thought to be bom not made. H e seems to have been the type
of painter who the Milanese theorist Lomazzo had in mind when he composed his
treatise, Idea delltempio dellapittura, of r590, one who “sought to remedy a deficiency
in natural aptitude with assiduous study”.73 But at what age did an apprenticeship
Artists and Artisans in Delft: A Socio-Economic Study o f the Seventeenth Century (Princeton:
Princeton University Press,, ^82), pp. 152-53.
70. Faberio in Bologna 1603, p. 31 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 426 {Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p.
307; transl. Summerscale 1995, p. 311]).
71. Ibid, (transL: Summerscale 1995, pp. 311-12).
72. Bellori 1672, p. 21 (1976 ed., p. 33).
73. G. P. Lomazzo, Idea dtlttempio della pittura, Milan, 1590, pp. 9-10.
64
begin? In the modem literature, estimates range between the ages of ten and
fourteen .74 But judging from the data that Vasari presented, an artistic education
could start as early as the age of seven and as late as age twenty. Andrea del Sarto,
whose father was a tailor, apprenticed his son to a goldsmith at the age of seven, “Del
Sarto” Vasari wrote, “was taken away from his reading and writing school.”75 Perino
del Vaga acquired the basic precepts of art before he reached eleven.76
Michelangelo’s apprenticeship with Domenico Ghirlandaio, began when the
sculptor was thirteen and lasted for three years.77 Girolamo Genga worked in the
wool trade with his father from the age of ten until he turned fifteen, at which time
he apprenticed with Luca Signorelli.78 Other accomplished artists were adults by the
time that they began studying art. Although they were clearly the exceptions to the
rule, Mariotto Albertinelli was twenty when he “learnt the first rudiments of painting
from Cosimo Rosselli”, having been a gold-beater until then 79, and Polidoro da
Caravaggio worked as a mason until he turned eighteen.**0
Annibale trained with Ludovico; his artistic education probably began when
he was aged eleven or twelve years, that is, in 1571 or 1572, at which time Ludovico
would have been approximate^ seventeen years old.**° T he elder cousin may have
discovered and then honed Annibale’s talents but that does not explain why he
served as Annibale’s master, rather than Fontana or some other established painter.
Certainly Fontana’s track record with Ludovico and Agostino would have been a
74. Laurie Rubin gave the estimates between ten and fourteen (“First Draft Artistry: Childrens’
Drawings in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” in Providence 1984, p. 10); while
Gabriele Bleeke-Byme, believed that apprenticeship generally began between the ages of
twelve and fourteen Bleeke-Byme 1984, p. 29).
75. Vasari 1568, vol 3, pt. 3, chapt. 108 (“Andrea del Sartopittor Fiorentino"), p. 708 (transL: De Vere
1996, vol. 1, p. 306).
76. Vasari 1568, voL 2, p. 3a, chapt. 131 CVita di Perino del Vaga,pittorFiorentmo’'), p. 349 (transl: De
Vere 1996, voL 2, p. 154).
77. T he document is reprinted in Vasari 1568, vol 3, pt. 3b, chapt. 155 (“Vita di Micbelangolo
BuonarruotiFiorentinopittore,scultort, braribitettore”), p. 717 (transL: De Vere 1996, voL 1, p. 644).
78. Vasari 1568, vol 2, p t 3d, chapt 140 d*Vita di Girolamo, & di Bartolomeo Genga, & di Giovambat. S.
Marinogtenero d i Gtrolamo”), p. 503 (transl.: De Vere 1996, vol 2, p. 382).
79. Vasari 1568, voL 2, pt. 3a, chapt 88 (“Vita di Mariotto A lbertinellipittorFiorentmo”), p. 42 (transl
De Vere, vol 1, p. 681).
*5
disincentive. Money—or lack thereof—may have been the other. While Antonio
Carracci has been described as a man who “must have been pretty well-off”, during
the mid-i570s, at least, he fell on hard times verging on bankruptcy. Documents
show that in 1575, he filed a petition expressing his grave concerns for his loved-ones
(“gravato difigtioli etfamiglia”) due to lack of funds.81 T he situation was so serious
that on April 17, 1577, Antonio was forced to sell his home and workshop.
Presumably these problems were brewing well before 1575, when Annibale was only
fifteen years old and probably still financially dependent on his father. There would
have been very little money to pay for Annibale’s apprenticeship and Agostino’s
training alone would have been a financial burden. In this context the financial
support that the Carracci received from Girolamo Bonconti in 1582 is more
understandable. While the Carracci never achieved great economic success, they
had the intellectual and artistic means to attain great fame. I discussed their
celebrity in the previous chapter and in the following I will address the problems
associated with Ludovico’s early oeuvre, which is a tale o f a different sort.
80. Vasari 1568, voL 2, pt. 3a, chapt. i n (“Vita di Pulidoro da Caravaggio, & Maturino Fiorentino,
pittorT), p. 197 (transl: De Vere, vol 1, p. 889).
81. See Zapperi 1989, pp. 9-10.
C h a p t e r Fo u r
T h e “O x ’s” T ale
...returning to Bologna, and setting up as an independent painter, he

[Ludovico] stood out so prominently ana demonstrated such great progress
that he occasioned as much mortification as amazement in Prospero and his
followers; and these, instead of calling him the ox [ilbue] as they used to do
when he was studying drawing under their master, now took to saying that he
was an ox who with his lazy pace passed everyone and got ahead or all others...
(Carlo Cesare Malvasia)1
udovico’s life as an artist started in the workshop of the successful Mannerist
L painter Prospero Fontana, his *primo direttore e maestro”, according to

Malvasia.2 He must have entered the bottega sometime after late-October
1565, when Fontana returned to Bologna following two years in Florence where he
had worked under Giorgio Vasari’s supervision in the Salone dei Cinquecento in the
Palazzo Vecchio .3 Ludovico was therefore at least ten when his apprenticeship
began. But from the very start, Fontana reportedly misjudged Ludovico’s talents and
undervalued his dedication to painting. Ludovico, therefore, left Fontana’s workshop
“early on” to complete his education elsewhere.4
Ludovico’s accomplishments resulted from hard work and endless study.

Whereas Agostino and Annibale “never did anything but sketch spontaneously,
andspent all of their time covering the margins of their [school] books and the walls
1. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, pp. 359-60 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 265; transL: Summerscale 2000, pp.
85-86).
2. Ibid., p. 354 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL p. 264).
3. For Fontana see Vera Fortunati Piertantonio, “ProsperoFontana,” in PitturaBolognese deôo,

ed. by Vera Fortunati Piertantonio, voL 1 (Bologna: GraftsEdizioni, 1986), pp. 339-49; for his
activities in Florence 1964, pp. 58-60.
4. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 358 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol p. 264).
66
67
outside with scribbled drawings,”5 Ludovico, “studied as much as humanly possible”

as a youth and “strove to overcome his natural aridity by dint of unceasing effort.”6
Fontana apparently had serious cause for concern about his young apprentice
because, “it was on account of this inborn reflectiveness and slowness that Fontana
would on occasion advise Ludovico to abandon a profession for which nature did not
seem to have given him a calling.” Thus, during his stint with Fontana, however brief
it was, Ludovico earned the nickname “the ox [ilbue]”—an appropriate name for the
son of a butcher .7
Unfortunately, those reports of Ludovico’s oxen-like slowness—whether they

originally referred to his working procedure, aptitude, or father’s
profession—affected how scholars reconstructed his oeuvre. But other forces have
also contributed to the confusion. Ludovico’s paintings were “falsely attributed to
Annibale by everyone except experienced painters” even in the seventeenth
century, according to Malvasia.8 “It was Ludovico’s great misfortune,” the biographer
lamented, that Francesco “Algardi once said to me in Rome (and the same
observation was made by Pier [Francesco] Mola to [Giovanni Battista] Cacciuoli, who
can confirm this as he is still alive), that the errors and faults that may sometime have
been made by the Carracci in their earliest works were always attributed to the poor
Ludovico, as if he were the inferior to the others, and a weaker painter.”9 Malvasia
also explained that three of Annibale’s nephews (two of them painters, Franceschino
5. Ibid., p. 360 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 265; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 8<*).
6. Ibid., p. 359 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 264; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 83).
7. See also Gail Feigenbaum, “The ‘Kiss of Judas’ by Ludovico Carracci,” Record of the Art
Museum Princeton University XLVIII (1989), pp. 3 and 15, a 4; Zapperi 1989, pp.45-48; and
Bologna 1993, pp. LXXXV-LXXXVI. Vasari recoras in his Vite that Michelangelo also used the
term as a pun specifically directed at the Bolognesi relying on the comical wordplay between
bo and bolognese. Once, when Michelangelo was in Bologna, he was asked which was larger one
of his statues or two oxen, the sculptor replied that the answer depended upon whether the
oxen where Bolognese or Florentine since the former were more brutish than the latter (See
Vasari 1568, vol. 2, p. 729). This remark, and another one by Michelangelo that Vasari
recorded, no doubt reflected a certain bias that the Tuscans had against Northern artists and
art. See Paul Barolsky, “Review o f Giulio Mazzoni e la decorazione a Roma nella cercbia di Daniele
da Volterra by Teresa Pugliatti,” A rt Bulletin LXVIII (1986), p. 335. Barolsky wrote: “In a
famous quip, also reported by Vasari, Michelangelo said that Bolognese oxen were larger that
those found in Florence. Punning on bo (ox) and bolognese, Michelangelo was commenting
implicitly on the bovine character of the Bolognesi. On another occasion, as Vasari again
relates, Michelangelo observed of an artist who painted oxen so well: ‘every painter paints
himself well.”’
8. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 487 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 348; transl: Summerscale 2000, p. 299).
68
and D on Benedetto, the other a priest named Anton Maria) had waged a wicked
campaign of slander in Rome against Ludovico, “wishing to have all the acclaim go to
their uncle Annibale.” They “did everything in their power to bring down their
cousin Ludovico by spreading a great many damaging falsehoods about him”,10
including attacks on Ludovico’s working methods, his character, and, perhaps worst
of all, his originality. Malvasia took particular offense at Bellori’s brief, but potent,
statement11 that Ludovico had imitated Annibale, who was the real pioneer of the
trio:
“Francesco [Carracci] also said that it was Agostino and Annibale that
Ludovico had learned the lovely use of color the two brothers had
brought back from Parma and Venice and that this is what finally
caused him to give up his early manner of the Procaccini. But when
and how could this nave occurred? If Ludovico had been in those
cities before they were, as was have seen above, how could this use of
color have been brought to him as something new? And as to his
having shifted to this manner after dropping the manner of the
Procaccini, when and what did he ever paint in the style of the
Procaccini? Can anyone find a single picture like that? Has anyone
owned a single canvas that draws on that style—a style he always
abhorred ana to which he was always opposed? W hat outrageous
affronts these are, what falsehoods! Yet in Rome they were passed
around as truths, sanctioned by the biased testimony of Annibale’s
supporters, who had followed him to Rome, and so the notion that
Ludovico was the weakest of the three took firm root. Indeed things
have come to such a pass that when a question is raised about one of
the Carracci’s early pictures, the work is immediately attributed to
Ludovico, as if it were something by Franceschino or Paolo [.Ludovico’s
brother, who also was a painter] or some other even worse incompetent
and fooL12
Malvasia’s comments regarding the attributional practices of his day still ring
true, with scholars often ascribing to Ludovico works judged to be unworthy of
Annibale. O n the other hand, Annibale’s name has often been attached to
9. Ibid., p. 492 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 351; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 306).
10. Ibid., p. 488 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. i, p. 348; transl: Summerscale 2000, p. 300).
11. “Meanwhile Ludovico—astonished by the color that his brother lAnnibale) brought back to
his native city {from Parma]—left his early Procaccinesque manner completely, and from being
Annibale’s teacher he became his disciple, imitating him in art” (Bellori 1672, p. 24 {Bellori ed.
1976, p. 36; transl: Enggass 1968, pp. 9-10]).
12. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 488 {Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, pp. 348-49; transL: Summerscale 2000, p.
300}.
69
outstanding works that are actually by Ludovico.^ In writing this dissertation, a major
concern o f mine has been to examine the historical sources, documents,
biographies, and other literary works related to the Carracci in light of the visual
evidence and the present state of the scholarship. In the case o f Ludovico’s early
oeuvre, it became clear to me that both the historical and the visual records present a
very different picture of the artist than that current today. One could say that the
situation is a classic case of art historians putting the cart before the horse—or, in
this case, the cart before the ox.
C o p y in g T h e P a st
ethinking Ludovico’s early activities and contributions to the Carracci
R Reform first requires establishing a timeline o f the events in his life and
then studying his works for clues that fit within that chronology. Based
largely on Mahrasia’s testimony and on documents, Ludovico’s formative years can be
divided into three distinct periods: his earliest years in Bologna as a novice painter,
his experiences during a study trip to Florence and cities north of Bologna, and the
remainder of his career back home.
In order to supplement his then modest artistic education, Ludovico studied

paintings in Bologna. “Thus, having left Prospero Fontana early on, as has been
said,” Malvasia wrote,
he proceed on his own studying the beautiful works of two of his
countrymen, those ofBagnacavallo for their color, and those of Tibaldi
for their design, since the former, as has been said elsewhere, had
undertaken to imitate Raphael, and while unable to match Raphael’s
perfect proportion, had surpassed him in a certain Lombard softness
and fleshiness, which is the only thing that divine artificer left to be
desired; and the latter, following in the path o f Michelangelo, even
though unable to achieve the sublimity \terribilita\ of those contours,
had nevertheless been able to moderate and soften those daringly
pronounced muscles with such grace and discretion that Ludovico
used to call him, as was mentioned earlier, his reformed Buonarroti. *4
13. For a discussion of these practices in the field of drawings connoisseurship see Sutherland
Harris 1994.
14. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 359 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 265-66; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p.
85). See Charles Dempsey’s commentary on this “remarkable passage” in “The Carracci and
the Devout Style in Emilia” in Emilian Painting o f the i6tb and rytb Centuries: A Symposium
{Center fo r the Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery o f A rt, Washington, D.C.)
(Bologna: Nuova Alfa, 1987), pp. 71-72.
70
A t the time, another aspect of Ludovico’s activities that Malvasia documented

entailed making copies of pictures in the city, a topic Gail Feigenbaum recently
explored.1* She provided a catalogue of the many examples mentioned in
documents and publications, especially the Felsina, during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. None of his copies have been identified. In a letter to
Ludovico from Parma, dated April 28,1580, Annibale stated that a “corporate Andrea”,
who dealt in art, requested that he copy Correggio’s works. Malvasia mentioned
many specific examples of which the most fully documented were two paintings
then in the Palazzo Tanari, Bologna, together with a copy of Titian’s Martyrdom o f
Saint Lawrence, which Malvasia said Ludovico made “while he was in Venice”.16
Malvasia’s attribution of the copy after Titian is problematic because the canvas had
been ascribed to Annibale in a 1640 inventory of the Tanari collection and was called
a “martirio di S. Pietro Martire” by Ludovico in the eighteenth century.1? T he two
other pictures reproduced works in Bologna by Francesco Mazzola (called
Parmigianino, 1502-1540): his Saint Roch with a Donor (Bologna, San Petronio, 1527),
“done in pastel on several sheets o f paper”; and the Madonna o f the Rose (Dresden,
Gemaldegalerie; fig. 14) “painted in oil on canvas”, the original (painted on panel)
was formerly in the Palazzo Zani, Bologna. Ludovico had made the two “for the
purpose of study while still a youth”, according to Malvasia.18 The Saint Roch must
have been an impressive work by virtue of its size. W hile Malvasia described it as
15. Gail Feigenbaum 1992, pp. 297-308.
16. “I have seen many Madonnas by Francia and Bagnacavallo in copies by Ludovico, one of which
is owned by my family, and have also seen his copy of the very famous Madonna of the Rose
by Parmigianino, the original of which is owned by Zani, as well as his large pastel drawing
after the Saint Roch in Saint Petronio, owned by Marchesi Tanari” (Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p.
467 {Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 333; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 264]). Malvasia also
mentioned the three pictures in nis list of paintings by Ludovico in the palazzo Tanari: “three
copies made for the purpose of study while he was still a youth—the Martyrdom of Saint
Lawrence after Titian’s altarpiece at the Crosacchieri, painted while he was in Venice, and
two works after Parmigianino, the Saint Roch, mentioned above {see above}, done in pastel on
several sheets of paper, and the Madonna of the Rose, painted in oil on canvas” (fbtd., p. 495
{Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 354; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 314).
17. T h e inventory entry of 1640 reads: “Un quadro del martirio d i San Lorenzo di mono d'Annibale
CarazzT (Bologna, Archivio di Stato MS rondo notarile, Rogiti di Roberto Accursi, 1636-1640; rp t
in Treartistinella Bologna dei Bentivoglio, exh. cat. ed. by Franca Varignana, Bolrena, Pinacoteca
Nazionale{Bologna: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1985}, p. 209). “martirio at S. Pietro Martire, copia da
ello di S. Giovanni e Paolo a Venezia” (Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS B. 104 {Marcello
S retti, “Le Pitture cbe si ammirano nelipalaggi e case de’nobili citta di Bologna”, ca. 1760-80}, II,
folio 140 recto).
18. See note 16 above.
“large”, Ireneo Afifb reported in 1784 that the pastel had the same measurements as
the altarpiece: some 270 centimeters high and 197 centimeters wide.r9
Artists commonly copied paintings judging from late sixteenth- and

seventeenth-century inventories. The detailed catalogue of Gerolamo Garimberto’s
collection, compiled in 1569, listed eleven anonymous copies after paintings by
Correggio and five after Parmigianino, alone.20 Garimberto, who was bom in 1506,
had lived most of his life in his native Parma but died in Rome in 1575. His artistic
preferences obviously favored works by painters who had been active in his
hometown. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the pictures Ludovico
replicated were widely copied at the time. Vasari noted in 1568 that Parmigianino’s
Madonna o f the Rose had “been copied fifty times, so much is it prized.”21 Even
Garimberto own a version of the picture.22 Around 1571, Domenico Tibaldi also
engraved the composition (B.XVII.13.3), as did Agostino, according to an unpublished
manuscript by Pierre Jean Mariette (1740-1770)—the reference having gone
unnoticed .23 Obviously, in this particular case, Ludovico’s or his patron’s choice of
subject was in keeping with those of many other artists who, like Vasari, held
Parmigianino’s paintings in Bologna “in vast veneration”.^ This seems to extend to
the other replicas that Ludovico made, dispelling the commonly held notion that the
Carracci reproduced works that they alone appreciated. According to a seventeenth-
centuiy inventory Ludovico, had also copied Raphael’s Saint Cecilia, as had his
19. “Fu questo btl quadro {the Saint Roch] intagliato diligententemente dal {Francesco} Brizio, cbe al
Cardinal dEste dedico la sua stampa; ma ter maggior elogio di si grand’opera bastera osseruare con
Monsignore Bottari, cbe Lodovico Caracci (fie] voUefame di sua mono una copia a pastelli grande al
naturale, conserva oggidinel Palazzo dell Senatoria Casa Tanara” (Ireneo Afro, Vita del grasaosissimo
pittore Francesco M azzob detto Parmigianino {Parma: Filippo Carmignani, 1784], pp. 70-71).
20. See Clifford M. Brown, “The Picture Gallery of Gerolamo Garimberto Offered to the Duke
of Bavaria? Journal o fthe History o fCollections II (1990), pp. 199-203.
21. Vasari 1568 (transL: De Vere 1996, voL 1, p. 939).
22. See Brown 1990, p. 201, no. 172.
23. “la Vierge a la rose du Parmesan copie de / celle gave le Tibaldi” (Paris, Biblioth&que Nationale MS
Pierre Jean Mariette, “Notes manuscrites sur les peintres et les graveurs”, 1740-1770, folio
168 recto). For the a discussion of the manuscript see pp. 000-000, below. For Tibaldi’s
rint see Babette Bohn, The Illustrated Bartscb 39 Commentary Part 2. Italian Masters o f the
Sixteentb Century (New York: Walter L. Strauss, 1992), pp. 55-59, no. 3903.007, ill., where other
engraved copies are also listed.
24. Vasari 1568 (transl: De Vere, voL 1, p. 939).
72
contemporary Denys Calvaert (i540-i6i9).25 Ludovico’s painting after Titian’s

M artyrdom o f Saint Lawrence reproduced one o f the Venetian master’s best-known
altarpieces, the fame of which only increased in 1571 after Comelis Cort (1533-1578)
had engraved a second, similar version of the composition (Escorial, Iglesia Vieja) for
Titian himself. And the reference in a letter o f December 8, 1604, to Annibale
reproducing a group of Emperors by Titian, is equally unremarkable. Titian’s original
set, dating from 1536-39, had consisted of eleven canvases. In 1562, Bernardino
Campi (1522-1595) painted the twelfth emperor, Domitian, and made a copy of the
whole series. Over the next two years Campi produced four more sets o f the same
series Annibale replicated only once. ^
I t would be misleading, therefore, to characterize Ludovico’s and Annibale’s

activities as copyist as exceptional for their day, but Feigenbaum thought they were.
“W hat does seem to be something new is copying on this scale,” she wrote, “and not
by artists who made their living making copies. I know of no precedents .”27
Feigenbaum may have been mistaken, too, when she assumed that the Carracci did
not profit monetarily from their activities. Malvasia claimed Ludovico had two
motives for encouraging his cousins to go north, after he went on his study trip. He
wanted them to profit artistically, as he had, but he contended that “by making
paintings of half-figures and engravings of some o f those celebrated works [my italics],
they could not only adequately support themselves, without inconvenience to the
family, but even give the family som e financial assistance as well. Besides,” Malvasia
25. See Giuseppi Campon, Raccolta di cataloghied Inventarii Inediti d i S^tfadri, Statue, Disegni, Bronzi,
Avorii, ecc. dal secolo X V a l secolo X IX (Modena: Carlo Vincenzi, 1870), p. 447; and Feigenbaum
1992, p. 302, who noted that “Apart from the rare exception of one painting after Raphael’s
Saint Cecilia, Ludovico’s copies were after northern Italian models. Calvaert’s picture is
recorded in the 1685 inventory of Giacomo Maria Marchesini, a Bolognese nobleman who had
an extraordinary collection: uUnaS. Cecilia in piedi, copda di Rafaele, con comice nera, alTantica, di
Dionisio Fiamengbi, doble 40 L 600 S. Cecilia in piedi” (Bologna, Archivio di Stato MS 1679-1709,
Prot. 1685-1686, folio J5verso). For the Marchesini collection see Morselli 1998, pp. 336-46.
A reference to Calvaert’s painting also appears in a nineteenth-century footnote to the second
edition of the Felsina: “In casa M elloni tn Via Vetturini ew i una bella copia della S. Cecilia di
Raffaello: quadro d i mezzanagrandezza: comesi ha dal Manuscritto OrettT (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1,
p. 203, a 2). The citation is in a long list of pictures by Calvaert that Gaetano Giordani, the
Custode della Pinacoteca Pontificia, had assembled. Giordani’s mention of the “Manuscritto
O retti” is most likely an allusion to Marcello O retti’s uLe Pitture che si ammirano nelli palaggi e
casa de’nobili della citta di Bologna” see footnote 17 above.
26. For an accounting of th e many copies see Harold Edwin Wethey, The Paintings o f Titian.
Complete edition by Harold R Wethey (London and New York: Phaidon , 1969-1975), vol. 3, pp.
235-40, cat. no. L-12. See also Feigenbaum 1992, pp. 300-301.
27. Ibid, p. 307.
73
concluded, “a change of air was always beneficial.”28 Alessandro Tanari (1548-1639),

whose collection is fairly well documented, owned copies by many artists besides
Ludovico. Presumably he commissioned the Carracci and others to copy pictures
that appealed to him and thus complimented his collection. Maybe Tanari and
other patrons even financed Ludovico’s travels so that he could make copies for them
along the way. It must have been fairly easy money, or so one would believe from
Annibale’s testimony when he wrote to Ludovico from Parma in 1580 reporting that
the “corporate” wanted to form a partnership with him .^ By selling their painted
copies the Carracci made money and sharpened their artistic skills without the
burden of traveling with rolls of finished canvases in hand. In fact, none of the
accounts of the Carracci Academy mention members studying painted copies and
none were in Annibale’s studio at his death.3° W hen Ludovico returned from his
travels, according to Malvasia, he brought back “disegm”, not quadri. And while the
drawings taught Agostino and Annibale “a great deal about the distinctive styles of
those masters, they could not teach them about the extraordinary color, which could
only be appreciated by seeing the works themselves”^ 1
L u d o v ic o ’s S tu d io so Co rso A n d S tu d ia ta M a n ie r a
fter leaving Fontana’s bottega and producing copies on his own, Ludovico
A undertook a trip to the artistic capitals of Florence, Parma, Mantua, and

Venice—what Malvasia called a “studioso corso”. The artist did so because
“there was no work by a painter of distinction either in his homeland or outside of it
that he did not wish to study and draw.”32 Malvasia is the only seventeenth-century
writer who specifically discussed Ludovico’s studioso corso, a term that he seems to
have invented for the occasion. He wrote about it in the Felsina and in his
28. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 364 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 268; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 94).
29. “He [corporate Andrea] says he will buy all the heads I copy from the cupola, as well as others
taken from pictures by Correggio in private hands, which he will get hold of for me to copy
as soon as I agree upon some mutually advantageous arrangement with him and break bread
with him, at the same table” (Lost letter dated April 28, 1580 from Annibale Carracci in
Parma to Ludovico Carracci in Bologna [transc. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 366 {Malvasia ed.
1841, voL 1, p. 269; transl. Summerscale 2000, p. 97®.
30. For the inventory of Annibale’s studio see Zapperi 1979.
31. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 364 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 268; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 94).
32. Ibid. p. 359 (Malvasia ed. 1841, p. 264; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 83).
74
unpublished notes for the b o o l c .33 Many art historians have doubted the account for
lack of visual “proof’ of the journey in Ludovico’s w o r k s .34 But, in fact, there is
considerable evidence of the trip in Ludovico’s early paintings, drawings, and his
earliest engraving, as I will demonstrate below.
In the Felsina, Malvasia stated that “on moving to Florence Ludovico worked
under Passignano”, the nickname of the painter Domenico Cresti (1559-1638), and
“applied himself to [studying] the lovable and correct works of Andrea del Sarto”.35
The significance of the reference to Andrea will become apparent later, but Malvasia
recorded in his notes that he had heard this information from the painter Alessandro
Tiarini (1577-1668), Prospero Fontana’s last pupil and Passignano’s apprentice in the
late-nineties. Zapperi, who discovered the notation,36 believed that Malvasia himself
was unsure about the report because he wrote “puo essere” and then crossed the
phrase out .37 The issue is rather small, but important both in principle and in the
context of Ludovico’s development since it calls into question the validity of the
sources. Oddly, Zapperi never transcribed the annotation in toto, which remains
unpublished. H e only paraphrased its contents, except for the phrase in question:
“pud essere”.
T he biographer also wrote in his notes a comment that Vincenzo Spisanelli

(1595-1662), another local painter, had once heard from his master, Denys Calveart.
Reportedly in Florence, Ludovico showed his drawings to the painter Federico
Zuccaro, who advised him to return to Bologna and “leave things alone” because his
draftsmanship was “grosso {clumsy}”: Dionisio Fiammgo dice che il SigrP Ludovico
mostrava alZuchero che dipmgeva / la cupola di Fiorenza i suoi disegni et egli lo consigliava a
33. Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS B. 16-17, “Scritti original! del Conte Carlo Cesare Malvasia
spettanti a ll sua Felsina Pittrice”.
34. Bologna 1993 (English edition), p . LXXXVI.
35. uPassato a Firenze epostosisotto il Passignano studio Andrea del Sarto” (Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 359
{Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 254; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 83]).
36. Bologna, Archivio di Stato MS 16, folio 149 recto. See Zapperi 1989, pp. 14 and 13, n. 27 (where
the citation is wrongly given as folio 149 verso); see also Anna Stanzioni, “Regesto della vita e
delle opere” in Bologna 1993, p. 203, who respectfully disagreed with Zapperi’s interpretation
(see below).
37. “Cbe v ifosse andato a scuola dal Passignano lo disse a M alvasia Alessandro Tiarini, pittore bolognese
suo grande atmco, cbe a Firenze era stato piii di vent’anni dopo, dal 1599 al 1606. Malvasia non gli
crecktte,ptrcbea commento di questa informazione amwto net suoi appunti un «puo essere* dssbitativo,
cassato successivamente con unfiego”(Zapperi 1989, p. 14)
75
tornarsene / Bologna e lasciano stare Cperche] era grosso".38 Zuccaro, in feet, had worked
in Florence from November 1575 until January 1580 and had enlisted Passignano as
his garzone to complete the cupola of the Last Judgement in Santa Maria dei Fiore
(Vasari had begun but died before finishing the fresco).39 It is unlikely that Tiarini
would have invented the relationship between Ludovico and Passignano, who was
working for Zuccaro when Spisanelli independently reported the two artists meeting.
Thus, Ludovico must have been in Florence in or after November 1575. Since he had
spent much time in Tuscany, Prospero Fontana was in a perfect position to help
Ludovico out during his stay in Florence, if their relationship were amicable. For
nearly two years, in the mid-i55os, Fontana worked and lived alongside Taddeo
Zuccaro (d. 1§66), Federico’s older brother. Although he was only a teenage at the
time, Federico most certainly knew Fontana. Mina Gregori, quite recently, believed
that Ludovico’s experiences in Florence, his friendship with Passignano, and
encounter with Zuccaro, help to foster the Carracci R e f o r m .4 0 While it is
impossible to prove that anti-Mannerist sentiments ran high in Florence at the time;
it may be significant that Ludovico never returned to Florence, nor did his cousins
ever visit the city.
Ludovico found the art o f the North more appealing. Malvasia wrote little
about the artist’s actives in Parma, except for saying that “he devoted himself wholly
to the graceful works of Parmigianino he loved so much and to the divine works of
Correggio’’. In Mantua, Ludovico reportedly admired the “awesome works” of Giulio
Romano and the “learned” paintings of Primaticcio.41 But in Venice, his last
destination, something different happened. Ludovico went there “to make a study
of the famous works of the great Titian” and to see the “fearsome” paintings of
Jacopo Tintoretto (1519-1594). Malvasia reported the following: “when Tintoretto
asked to see his drawings after the celebrated works o f the great Venetian school, he
38. Bologna, Archivio di Stato MS 16, folio 118 recto. See Zapperi 1989, pp. 17 and 23, n. 29;
Stanzani 1993, p. 203; Mina Gregori, “Federico Zuccari a Fiorenze: un punto di vista,” Paragone
XLIX (1989), p. 25; and Summerscale 2000, p. 84, n. 6.
39. The completed project was unveiled on August 19, 1579. See Bruno Toscano, “Federigo
Zuccaro a Firenze: un punto di vista,” Paragone XLXIX (1998), pp. 9-45 (esp. pp. 25-26).
40. “pm importante e notare cbe Famicizia accertata col Passignano (con un rapporto di colleganza piuttosto
cbe d i discepolato) e Pincontro con lo Zuccari rivelato dalla maldicenza del Calvaert riportano
Pesperienzafiorentina del Carracci nell’ambiente dove apertamente, anzi clamorosamente (considerata
la sede da cui vetuva il messaggiol si stava maturando Pesperienza di una riforma antimanierista”
(Gregori 1989, pp. 25-26)
76
told Ludovico that since Ludovico had not been bom with a ready disposition for the
art of painting, he would be b etter off working in another field.”42 It is somewhat
surprising that Malvasia included such unflattering testimony, although Ludovico’s
ultimate success countered the disparaging remarks. Nonetheless, his contacts with
Tintoretto may well have been o f assistance to Agostino, who engraved Tintoretto’s
paintings during the 1580s, when the Venetian master became the Godfather to
Agostino’s son, Antonio .43 It is very unlikely that Ludovico was in Venice during the
massive outbreak of the bubonic plague that started in the summer of 1575 and
claimed the lives of a third of its population (some 70,000 people), including Titian
on August 27,1576.44 The epidemic ended on July 20,1577.
Malvasia made it quite clear that Ludovico’s studioso corso sharpened his artistic
skills and transformed his sensibilities such that his early, provincial manner, based
on Bolognese models, gave way to a completely different style owing to the paintings
that had had seen and copied. The biographer referred to the new style as
Ludovico’s Ustudiata matiiera” or “studied manner”. I t had already taken root before
Ludovico left Bologna with his investigations of pictures by Bagnacavallo and Tibaldi.
“H e started on his way,” we read in the Felsina, “with these two [masters] as his guides
before forming his studied manner [studiata maniera], which he then consolidated
completely and perfected by studying the works of Sarto, Primaticcio, Correggio,
Titian, Parmigianino, as mentioned above; then, returning to Bologna, and setting up
as an independent painter...”45
LUDOVICO’S INCORPORAZIONE AND HIS BOTTEGA
...let us turn to the tattered remains of a book that barely holds together and
that contains the records o f the Company of Painters: here, entered under
the date 23 March 1578, we find Ludovico’s application for membership, in
41. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 359 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 264; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 83).
42. Ibid.-, transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 83.
43. According to Bellori 1672, p. n o (Bellori ed. 1976, p. 121).
44. About the plague see Wittkower 1963, p. 268.
45. Ibid, p. 359 (Malvasia ed. 1841, v ol 1, p. 265; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 85). The remained
of this quotation is given at th e beginning of this chapter.
77
which he promises to offer proof of his and his father’s citizenship, in

accordance with the Company’s statutes. (Carlo Cesare Malvasia)46
A turning point in Ludovico’s career came when he enrolled in the

Corporazione deipittori e bombasari at the age of twenty-two in 1578. Like other trade
organizations, the Corporazione regulated the city’s painters and bombasari (dealers in
cotton and raw silk), maintaining high standards of quality for the products that its
members made and assuring that they conducted business fairly.47 A group of
councilmen oversaw the management of the guild and on July 21,1582, Ludovico was
elected as one of them, filling the spot that Lorenzo Sabatini (b. 1530) had occupied
until his death in 1576.48 Roberto Zapperi, who discovered the latter document,
explained that admission to a guild was difficult to achieve and elevation to the
consiglio more so, however, it is possible to draw many more conclusions about
Ludovico and his critical reputation at the time than Zapperi ventured to do .49
Carracci joined the esteemed ranks of Prospero Fontana, Ercolo Procacini, Giovanni
Battista Ramenghi, and others, in what was Bologna’s most powerful artistic forum.
All members o f the Corporazione were obligated to pay their dues and were known as
“o b b e d ie n tiBut as one could guess, collected fees was not easy and in 1586 the
council yielded its option to jail disobedient obbedienti. Zapperi supposed that that
was the charge against Agostino, Annibale, and their brother Giovanni Antonio who
were arrested on November 16, 1587 in a case involving the Malvasia and Zenzanini
46. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 455 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 326; transl.: Summerscale 2000, pp. 245-
40 -
47. For discussions of the various Bolognese guilds see Lia Gheza Fabbri, “Le adunanze seerete
dei carpentieri bolognesi (1573-1574),” A ttt della accademia delle scienze delflstituto di Bologna.
Classe di scienze morale. Rendicond LVII (1978-79), vol. 2, pp. 25-00; idem, Drappieri, strazzar roli,
zavagli: una compagnia bolognese fra il XVI e il XVIII secolo, II Carrobbio VI (1980), pp. 164-
000; and idem, Per lo studio delle corporazioni bolognesi fra il XVI e il XVIII secolo: i Libri
matricularum,” Economia e storia IV (1983), p. 255-268.
48. [Surrogatio in consiUo Bombasariorum et Pictorum Ludovici Carracia et Petri di Agnesina et Herculis de
Lucbinis.} uCum plura loca in consiglio Societatis Bombasariorum et Pictorum umtorum reperiantur
vacua et propter penuriam bominum dictarum artium in praesentia a massario et bomintbus dictis
consiliipropoi non potuerint ampUus quam tres homines qui repertifuerunt babiles qui in dicto cositio
admittantur proptereaipsos tres bominis et singulos eorum tn unum ex locis praedictis vacantibus
surrogaruntat eugerunt acadm itti mandarunt cum bonoribus oneribus et emolumentis solids et consuetis
videlicet Ludovicum Carracciam in locum Laurendi de Sabadinis mortui per suffragia 24, Petrum
quondam Baptistae de Agnesina in locum Antonii de Zanettis qui loco suo renundavit per suffragia
XXVIII, Herculem de Luccbitds in locum Dominici de Cusituris demortuiper suffragia 28 contrariis etc.”
(Bologna, Archivio di Stato MS Senato, Libripartitorum, voL 2, foL 193 recto and verso; transc_-
Zapperi 1989, p. 93; see also Bologna 1993, p. LXXXVI, with slight differences).
49. uEntrare in una corporazione era difficile e ancorpiii entrare nel consiglio” (Zapperi 1989, p. 72).
7«
families.5° This surprising event, recorded in a vague document that Zapperi only
partially published in 1989, is neither well known in the scholarly community nor
characteristic of the image historians make of the Carracci.51
Indeed, few Carracci scholars have used archival records to full advantage;
Zapperi, a social historian, is the rare exception. Despite the absence of signed,
dated, or otherwise documented paintings by Ludovico from this period, both
Malvasia’s reference to Ludovico’s admission to the guild and the atto dating from
1582 offer important insights into the painter’s activities. Considerable professional
benefits were granted to consiglieri including “all the customary and usual advantages
\emolumenti solitis et concuetisY outlined in the guild’s charter of 1535, which was still in
effect when Ludovico entered the group.52 More importantly, membership in the
Corporazione permitted Ludovico to open a workshop of his own in 1578. In order to
be a guild official, one had to be a native or citizen of Bologna, at least twenty-five
years old (Ludovico was twenty-seven when elected), and the master o f a “botega
(sic.)” in the city. The Corporazione’s rules leave no doubts about the last point in
stating: u...nonpossa esser de consiglio chinon sia un mastro di botega”.
The Carracci also had outside contact with guild members. Girolamo
Bonconti’s ledger contains entries stating that twice in 1583, Ercole Proccacini, a
councilman with Ludovico, and his son Camillo, received a “basket of exquisite
grapes” as payment for teaching Giampaolo Bonconti “nelFAccademia”& In other
words, the professional ties Ludovico forged in the Corporazione strengthened the
Academy and his studio. Because the records of the Corporazione dei pittori e
bombasariare are incomplete one can only speculate that Girolamo Bonconti was also
50. Bologna, Archivio di Stato MS Legato, Expeditiones, vol 101 carte 226 recto; according to
Zapperi 1989, p. 97, n. 36. See also idem, pp. 89-90.
51. The arrest may be related to an event that Malvasia recounted, as Zapperi noted (ibid., and p.
97, n. 36). See also Summerscale 2000, p. 252, who is the only other author who, I believe,
mentioned the arrest.
52. The statues of the Compagpia delle quattro arti, which included painters, are reproduced in
Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri, “L’arte dei pittori a Bologna,” Arcbivw Storico dell'Arte (1897), pp.
309-310.
53. uD el medesimo anno [1583}, una castellata tfuva squisita, mandate a donate ad Ercole Procaccini e
Camillo suofigliuolo,per lefaticbe cb’usano nell’insegnare a Gio. Paolo suofiglio, nelFAccademia?% and:
uDelTanno stesso un altro regalo a’ medisimi, per Fistessa cagjone" (Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 573
[Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 405D.
79
involved with the guild. I t seems highly likely that a man who made his fortune in
silk would join the group representing those who sold silken goods.
Ludovico’s elevation to the ranks of the consiglio clearly indicates that by 1582
he headed a workshop in the most traditional, commercial sense. There he must
have employed Annibale and perhaps other young painters as his assistants. Like a
cobbler, cabinetmaker, or goldsmith, he supervised garzoni who worked under his
watch producing paintings for sale that were subject to his criticism, alteration, and
final approval. Malvasia described this process precisely in his discussion of the Jason
cycle, the artists’ first large-scale collaborative undertaking: “Ludovico sketched lots
of things for them [Agostino and Annibale], attended to the arrangement and
disposition of the inventions [/ pensieri], while also correcting [correngando] and
improving [migliorandd] the work ”.54 And while scholars are skeptical that Ludovico
had a hand in Annibale’s Crucifixion with Saints (1583), and Baptism o f Christ (1585), as
both Bellori and Malvasia stated, the possibility should be considered seriously.55
Because the Carracci followed conventional production methods that artists’

biographers made only passing references to their working practices and the
organization of the Bolognese bottega, except for Malvasia who had access to more
specific information. Scholars have ignored a statement that Annibale made in a
letter dated July 8, 1595, on the eve of his departure from Bologna for Rome. The
letter, which is addressed to Giulio Fossi, a member of Compagnia di San Rocco in
Reggio Emilia that commissioned Annibale’s Alm sgiving o f San Rocco (Dresden,
Gamaldegalerie), demonstrates that the Carracci were comfortable collaborating on
works even at a later date. W ith Annibale’s pending trip, he referred to other
pictures many of which he could not finish before his departure (?molte me ne
restaranno”). Annibale explained to Fossi that he would take some of these with
him, but others, he wrote: “...I will leave to messer Ludovico my cousin, which I will
oblige him to finish, as I believe that he is the foremost painter {primo pittore\ of this
city, and will prove himself so with his beautiful works. ”56
54. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 369 (ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 271; transl.: Summerscale 1996, p. 166).
55. Bellori 1672, p. 212 (Bellori ed. 1976, p. 33); and Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 363 (Malvasia ed. 1841,
vol 1, p. 267).
56. Letter dated July 8,1595 from Annibale Carracci in Bologna to Giulio Fossi in Reggio Emilia
(Reggio Emilia, Archivio di Stato MS Communak varia, Congregazioni di San Rocoo; transc. in
Perini 1990, p.155)
8o
Traditional workshop methods provided the Carracci the means to succeed

financially, however, several scholars have asserted that they were unconventional
artists who rejected such common procedures. As recently as 1999, Daniele Benati,
like others before him, stated that “the Carracci rejected the contemporary
workshop practices by which one artist was responsible for the work of the others” in
favor of new working methods .57 Benati believed that the Carracci com peted
amongst themselves for commissions and even contended that “no verification in
extant documentation” exists to indicate that the Carracci worked like conventional
artists. O f course, such “documentation” does survive in the incidents I discussed
a b o v e .5 8 Ludovico, in fact, remained a vocal member o f the compagnia until his death
in 1619. Neither Annibale nor Agostino themselvesjoined a professional
oiganization, however, a fact that confused Zapperi. Ludovico received all the legal
protection and other occupational perks necessary to conduct the business and his
cousins simply painted in his studio. It is within this commercial context that
Agucchi described Ludovico as the eldest of the trio and as the master of the other:
“Ludovico era maggiore de eta, efii il maestro deglialtrF.59
A final conclusion can be drawn from Ludovico’s incorporazione, namely that

every member of the consiglio had been elected to the seat by a two-thirds majority of
his peers. At the time, all o f the “homini delli consigl,if” painted in the maniera
m odem as*0 Their pictures and approaches to making art were contrary to those of
the Carracci, although Mannerist artists seemed to have admired Ludovico’s works,
countering the notion that exists today that the Carracci were outsiders who operated
on the fringe of the establishment.
57. See Daniele Benati, “Annibale Carracci’s Beginnings in Bologna: Between Nature and History"
in Washington 1999, p. 42. See also Goldstein 1988; and Keith Christiansen, “Working from
Life in the Accademia dei Desiderosi,” in Scritti in more d i Giuliano Briganti (Milan: Einaudi,
1990), pp. 135-45.
58. Ibid.
59. Giovanni Battista Agucchi in Mosini 1646, p. 10. (rpt. in Mahon 1947, pp. 249; and Marabottini
1979, p. li).
60. See Malaguzzi Valeri, pp. 309-310.
8i
L u d o v ic o ’S M a n ie r a : A N ew C h r o n o l o g y
udovico obviously had achieved a degree of technical proficiency in 1578 to
L qualify as a professional painter and he was the subject of critical appreciation

in 1582 when his peers found his style pleasing enough to elect him as a
councilman in the guild. One would assume, therefore, that Ludovico’s reformed
maniera was fairly conservative. W hen Malvasia described the criticisms that artists
like Fontana had flung at Annibale’s Crucifixion (1583) and Baptism (1585), he added
that Ludovico painted in a naturalistic style like Annibale’s but one that tempered
“the roughness of nature with a little more elegance and embellishment” that he had
derived from his love of Parmigianino’s works.61 Nonetheless, the paintings that
scholars ascribed to Ludovico and the early chronology that they have constructed
takes none of these points into account. In fact, the current scheme casts Ludovico
in a contrary light—one filtered though centuries of misconceptions about the artist.
The lack of secure evidence for assessing Ludovico’s oeuvre presents difficult
challenges, as I mentioned in chapter one. The badly damaged frescoes attributed
to him in the Sala di Giasone, dated 1584, are by no means his earliest surviving
works, in my opinion. Over the past fifty years, historians have ascribed to Ludovico a
modey group of “earfy” paintings—most of which depict religious subjects. Scholars
have no problem believing that Ludovico painted feeble pictures while the young
Annibale worked in an accomplished style. The retrospective exhibition of
Ludovico’s picture held in Bologna in 1993, before traveling to Fort Worth, provided
scholars with the unprecedented opportunity to rethink the artist, but instead the
show reinforced old interpretations. The only voice of dissention came from D.
Stephen Pepper, in his article “Ludovico Carracci: A New Sequence o f His
W orks”.62 Pepper’s reappraisal of the works shown in Bologna was still confined to
the same period of activity, which supposedly began in ca. 1581 until 1619 (when
Ludovico died), that the planners of the exhibition had defined. He did suggest,
however, that Ludovico painted a Holy Family with SaintJohn (private collection), ca.
1579. In my view that weak picture (“Ludovico’s earliest known painting”, according
61. See Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 363 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 267; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p.
93)-
62. D. Stephen Pepper, “Ludovico Carracci: A New Sequence of His Works,” Accademia
Clementina: atde memorie XXXIII-XXXIV (1994), pp. 49-67.
82
to Pepper) could not possibly be by the artist.^3 It bears no clear relationship to the
artist’s securer paintings. W hile Ludovico’s practice of neither signing nor dating his
works is lamentable, and the lack of documentation distressing, the situation
provides historians with a flexible scheme that is ripe for reinterpretation.
In an article published in 1956, at the time of the Mostra dei Carracci,

Francesco Arcangeli proposed that an oil painting depicting Saint Catherine’s mystic
marriage was Ludovico’s earliest extant work (Bologna, private collection; fig. 11).
Arcangeli dated the canvas to 1582/83, that is, only a year or two before Ludovico
completed his share of the frescoes in the Sala di Giasone .64 He noted similarities
between the features of the Virgin in the oil painting and those of Medea in one of
the scenes (fig. 12) and the reliefs on the pedestals in both compositions.65 But
these points are not necessarily conclusive ones for dating the oil painting since
Ludovico represented women with similar features even in his mature pictures, such
as the Bargellini Madonna of 1588, or in very late works, such as the Susana and the
Elders (London, National Gallery) of 1616. Nor are the designs of the pedestals close
enough to suggest anything but a generic connection, although the comparisons
support the attribution of the Mystic Marriage to Ludovico despite the poor condition
o f the fresco and the different media involved. Another factor informed Arcangeli’s
dating o f the painting. H e thought that Malvasia had presented a biased view of
Ludovico that exaggerated his role as his cousins’ “mentore.”66 uOra il M alvasia era
preoccupato,” Arcangeli wrote, “si sa, di risollevare lafam a insidiata di Ludovico Carracci
contro ilpartito cha aveva sostenuto Annibale e Agpstino, i due cugini che, di bolognesifa tti
rornani, avevano elaborato, in Roma, la prima, importante impresa dun classicismo
63. Ibid, p. 62, ill.
64. Arcangeli 1956, p. 18. For a discussion of Arcangeli’s exceptional contributions to Carracci
studies see Anton W. Boschloo, “La fortuna degli affreschi bolognesi dei Carracci nella
letteratura artistica,” in Les Carracbe et Us decorsprofanes. Actes du Colloque organise par I’tco k
franfaise de Rom (Rome: fecole franâise de Rome, 1988), pp. 457-76.
65. Arcangeli 1956, pp. 18-19. Saint Catherine's features prefigure those of Medea in both the
Meeting o fJason and Medea and the Rejuvenation o f the Lamb and the Killing o f Pelias. The
daughters of Pelias, who appear in the later scene, also offer very good comparisons with the
Virgin. As Feigenbaum (Bologna 1993, p. 2>under cat. no. 1) has pointed out, the Virgin also
looks like Medea in the Incantation o fMedea. Saint Catherine and Medea also wear analogous
headdresses, accessories, and costumes, though, understandably, Saint Catherine’s is more
modest.
66. Ibid, p. 19.
83
seicentesco”6! Thus, believing that Ludovico developed more slowly than Annibale,
Arcangeli presented the Mystic Marriage as proof. I t is a tribute to his scholarship
that only two historians have seriously questioned his proposal. Both Elizabeth
Cropper and Erich Schleier expressed reservations independently in print on the
issue without suggesting an alternative date. The problem has not been addressed
because, in some respects, the painting resembles other supposedly “early” pictures
ascribed to Ludovico such as another depiction of the same subject in Goteborg (fig.
25).^ But how could have Ludovico have painted such an unimpressive picture in his
late twenties, when he had been working as a professional painter since 1578?
Anyone who sees the Mystic Marriage cannot help but notice how bizarre,
surreal, and even disturbing it is.^9 The three, attenuated figures have a cool, almost
Neo-Gothic air about them. They seem ill at easy in the forbidding setting
consisting of some crumbling architecture, anemic bush, and a taffy-like curtain.
Scholars have tried to account for the picture’s unusual qualities in numerous ways.
ALrcangeli suggested that Saint Catherine’s distorted features have an “impreciso
carattere egizio”.7° Fairly recently, Andrea Emiliani wrote poetically about the canvas,
referring to the St. Catherine as a “piccola Aida elegante” and comparing Ludovico’s
handling o f light with the “giovane Piero [della Francesca]” and Vermeer.71 But the
67. See Arcangeli 1956, p. 17.
68. Elizabeth Cropper is the only scholar to question the attribution in print, Cropper writes,
“The M yStic marriage o fSaint Catherine is more difficult to defend. Arcangeli described it with
a kind of loving condescension, writing of ‘quel Bambino brutarello’, and ''quello scenarietto
ambientale', and Roli now points to the tamabile timidezza' of the architecture. Here the
powerful underlying thesis of Ludovico's supposedly Emilian archaic naturalism combined
with clumsy peasant grace, needs to be recognized in order to understand why such an
attribution was attractive and why the picture, here called “splendid” by Roli, has been
greeted in Bologna as an asset to Ludovico’s reputation” (Elizabeth Cropper, Review of The
Age o f Correggio and die Carracci, Burlington Magazine CXXIX (1987), p. 271). “The earliest
picture shown was the Mystic Marriage Catherine (no. 1), dated c. 1582 by Feigenbaum, and
familiar from the Bolognese exhibitions of 1984 and 1986. W ith its strangely swollen and
distorted facial features a la Parmigianino it differs considerably from the works around it and
has in fact been doubted by Elizabeth Cropper (1987). Equally peculiar when seen in this
context, is number 2 of the catalogue, the well known St. Vincent, first published by Volpe,
with its brilliant cold local colours and icy frosted tones. I am not questioning the attribution
of these two paintings, but would stress their disparate stylistic appearance” (Erich Schleier,
Review of Ludovico Carracci, Burlington Magazine CXXXVI (1994), p. 262).
69. Feigenbaum recently wrote, “The picture is distinguished by juxtapositions of the elegant and
the clumsy, the sophisticated and the humble, and the result is peculiarly unresolved”
(Bologna 1994 ed., cat. no. 1, p. 2).
70. Arcangeli 1956, p. 18.
71. Andrea Emiliani, “Ludovico Carracci” in Bologna 1993, p . XL.
84
more plausible explanation for these peculiar features would be to attribute them to
Ludovico’s years prior to leaving Bologna. Indeed, all writers have rightly described
the M ystic Marriage as provincial and have commonly employed the term “Emilianita"
that Arcangeli had first coined to describe the painting’s strong Emilian character. It
also contains archaic elements such as Mary’s bodice and blouse with its
embroidered gold armbands that do not appear in any other work by or attributed to
Ludovico or to either of his cousins. T he costume approximates those found in
paintings dating from the first quarter of the sixteenth century. In other words,
nothing about the Mystic Marriage suggests that Ludovico had yet embarked on his
studioso corso. One could hardly imagine it causing the kind of “mortification” and
“amazement” that Malvasia reported Ludovico’s works of the studiata maniera
provoked. Although scholars refuse to admit so, the Mystic Marriage is a Mannerist
painting, one Ludovico must have made ca. 1575, before he left Bologna for Florence,
indeed, before the Carracci Reform had actually begun.
Some of the painting’s weaknesses are due to fundamental problems of

drawing. The figures rest uneasily in the space because Ludovico employed
numerous short cuts that a beginner might use to disguise difficult passages. The
mounds of dark green drapery heaped over the Mary’s lap cleverly conceal Christ’s
legs and Saint Catherine’s left: hand. T he mantel makes the Virgin’s lower body
unbelievably long and one wonders how her legs could possibly be attached to her
torso. Likewise, a swath of white cloth conveniently hides the awkward transition
where her shoulder and Child’s left arm meet.
But the stylization of the figures evokes the works of Parmigianino: large,
tapering hands; pinched faces with their fine features and small mouths; the super
abundant drapery; the Christ child’s overly muscular build; and the dense
composition arranged close to the picture plane. I t is tempting to think that
Ludovico imitated Parmigianino’s style, having copied the masters St. Roch and
Madonna o f the Rose (fig. 14) “while still a youth”.?2 Closer parallels exist between
Ludovico’s picture and a Mystic Marriage o f the St. Catherine that Parmigianino had
made for a Bolognese saddler “containing a Madonna turned to one side in a lovely
attitude, and several other figures”, to cite Vasari.73 It is presently in the National
72. Malvasia 1678, voL i, p. 495 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 354; transL: Summerscale 1995, p. 501).
73. Vasari 1568, ? (transL: De Vere 1996, vol. 1, p. 938).
85
Gallery, London (fig. 13), but another lost version of the subject was in San Vitale,
Bologna. The inventory of Alessandro Tanari mentions “Un disegno del sposalizio di
santa Caterina con cornice intagliate e dorata di mano del Signor Ludovico Carazza” that
Marcello Oretti later identified as a copy of Parmigianino’s now-lost picture .74 In
addition to the figure types, the brushwork of the Mystic Marriage imitates the
sketchy painting style Parmigianino developed in Bologna. Ludovico applied colors
over a dark-brown ground and linen support with a coarse twill, a technique that
appears in several other paintings that I consider early. This method, when used
with thinned paints and a light touch, gave the Virgin’s white blouse and veil a gauzy
quality while other fabrics rendered with darker pigments and broader strokes appear
stiff and flat, taking on the look of starched cloth .75 Thus, pearly areas of flesh look
semi-transparent because of the open brushwork but Mary’s saturated red bodice
resembles an armor breastplate.
W o r k s F r o m T h e S tu d io so Co rso
Ludovico’s studioso corso transformed his style. W hat lessons did he learn
L from the trip? As with the Mystic Marriage, stylistic and technical features
also form the basis for re-dating the Holy Family Under an Arch (fig. 15), an
engraving, and two preparatory drawings (Figs. 17 and i 8).76 The print’s amateurish
appearance, figurative sources, and similarities with the Mystic Marriage, in my
opinion, sustain a dating of ca. 1577-1578. He probably made the print during his
sojourn in Florence or soon thereafter. The engraving bears Ludovico’s signature
(“lodovicus Carraccys.”) and below it an inscription (“in.fi.”) stating that he designed and
prepared the plate himself, leaving no doubt about the attribution of the print and
the related drawings. Thus I question the date of ca. 1585-1590 unanimously assigned
to the print. Scholars liken it to the Madonna dei Bargellini of 1588, Ludovico’s earliest
known signed and dated work. The comparisons between the print and the
altarpiece and between the preparatory drawings for both works respectively are not
74. Bologna, Archivio di Stato MS Fondo notarile, Rogiti di Roberto Accurst, 1636-1640, folio 62 recto
(rpt. in Bologna, 1985, p. 213). “Copia detoriginak del Parmigianino gid S. Vitale alponte di Reno,
poi a Roma tn casa Colonnd" (Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS B. 104 [Marcello Oretti, “Le
Pitture cbesiammirano nelipalaggie case de’nobili citta di Bologna”, ca. 1760-80], I, folio 120 recto
[rpt. in Bologna, 1985, p. 213, n. 81).
75. This picture is executed on a fairly coarse, linen support. The original tacking margins are
visible along all four edges. T he paint is applied over a reddish-brown ground uiat is clearly
visible in the areas of shadow.
86
convincing. In the altarpiece, the Virgin sits on a raised throne and tenderly
embraces the Christ Child, who offers a gentle blessing to the saints kneeling below
Him in a manner vaguely reminiscent of the engraving but none of the figures in the
print possess the physical refinement or grazra of those in the painting. There
Ludovico employed a much more sophisticated handling of space and forms. Its
telling expressions, subtle hand gestures, and penetrating glances that animate
Ludovico’s altarpiece do not appear in his engraving. I t should be noted too that the
spellings and styles of the signatures in each case are very different (the inscription
on the altarpiece reads: LVD. CARATlUSF.MDLXXXVlli).
Since the early nineteenth century, writers have recognized that Ludovico
based his composition on Andrea del Sarto’s Madonna del Sacco, a lunette fresco in
the cloister of the convent o f SS. Annunziata, Florence (fig. i9).77 Andrea’s figures
occupy a shallow recess with an arched top and moldings on either side, while
Ludovico represented a similar space, opened at the back to the sky. O ther parallels
between the two include the disposition of Virgin and Child and the abundant fabric
of the Virgin’s mantel, which cascades over the stone steps and seems to project into
76. See "Washington 1979, pp. 480-82, cat. no. 1, ilL
77. Chiostro de’ Morti, SS. Annunziata, Florence. Fresco. 191 x 403 cm. ( lu n e tte ) . Inscribed on
the tablet on the left: SfifE I GENUTT / ADORA / V IT. Inscribed on the tablet on the
right: ANN. DOM / M D X X / V. See Shearman 1965, vol. 1, pp. 264-265, cat. no. 74.
Speaking of the drawing for the Virgin and Child. O ttley writes, " In this masterly study, we
have sufficient evidence of Ludovico's predilection for the manner of Coreggio {nr}: though
perhaps the hints for the composition was taken by him from the "Madonna del Sacco" of
Andrea del Sarto. It is worth observing that we have an etching of this design by his own
hand, with the addition of the figure of Joseph; thereby rendering the similaritude between it
and the celebrated group of Andrea's more complete" (William Young Ottley, The Italian
school o f design: being a series o ffacsimiles o f original drawing, by the most eminent painters and
sculptors o f Italy; with biographical notices o f the artists and observations on their works {London:
Taylor and Hessey, 1823}, p. 65). Vasari writes in 1550, "Laonde Andrea,fra la voglia delluogo e la
poca opera, cbe non vi anaavano se non tre figure, spinto dalla gloria piu abe dal prezzo, la prese
volentieri; e cost messoci mono, free in fresco una Nostra Donna cbe siede, bellissima, con i l Figliuolo in
colloe conun Gioseppoappogfiatoa unsacco, che aperto un libro lege quello; dove s'mgegndfar conoscere
in ta l lavoro una assoluta arte e perfetta di disegno, et una grazia e bonta di colorito, oltre alia grazia
delle teste e la vivezza e rilievo di quelle figure, mostrando a tu tti i pittorifiorentini averli suberati et
avanzati di gran lunga pre fino a quel gtoro, come apertamente da se stessa si fa , senza altra lode,
conoscere, cbe gli artenci e gli a ltri mgegnosi sjfirti di contmuo la celebrano per cosa rarissima" (Vasari
1550, p. 763 {1568 ed., voL 2, pp. 164-165}). The 1568 ed. varies from the 1550 publication, but is
equally lauditory. Francesco Bocchi included the fresco with Michelangelo's Notte and with
Donatello's San Giorgjo as the finest works of art in Florence. See Paolo Barocchi, Trattati
cfartedel Gnquecento, fra matuerismo e Controriforma [Bari: G. Laterza, 1960-62} voL 3, pp. 178-
179. Diana DeGrazia writes, "In the nineteenth century, the influence of Andrea del Sarto's
Madonna del Sacco on Ludovico's composition was pointed out. The similarity with Andrea's
painting does not indicate a trip to Florence (although we assume that Ludovico did go to
Florence), but there was contact with either the original in the Chiostro de'mom, SS.
Annunziata in Florence or with an engraved copy of this well known and influential fresco
(Washington 1979, p. 480, under cat. no. 1)."
real space. The most dramatic link between the print and fresco is, however, the
severe perspective, which is understandable in the painting because of its position
high above eye-level in the cloister but serves no practical function in Ludovico’s
engraving.
Only Diane DeGrazia tried to explain the formal connections between

Andrea’s fresco and Ludovico’s print, which are crucial for understanding the
engraving. She reasoned that the “similarity with Andrea’s painting does not indicate
a trip to Florence (although we assume that Lodovico [air] did go to Florence), but
there was contact with either the original in the Chiostro de’ morti, SS. Annunziata in
Florence or with an engraved copy of this well-known and influential fresco. ”78 De
Grazia overlooks Malvasia’s statement that Andrea had been one of Ludovico’s
favorite artists and that he had studied Andrea’s “lovable and correct works”
firsthand in Tuscany during his studioso corso.79 Given this information, a logical
conclusion would be to date Ludovico’s engraving to ca. 1578, when Ludovico was in
Florence. This hypothesis makes perfect sense for numerous reasons not least of
which are the striking similarities between the engraving and the Mystic Marriage.
The Virgin’s mantel has the same facetted quality that reveals nothing of the forms
underneath. Likewise, Ludovico used moldings with similar profiles and rusticated
masonry in each composition. In both, the Madonna appears serene yet frail, an
effect achieved through a combination of smooth features: large eyes with heavy lids,
thin eyebrows, dainty lips, and small chins. Comparing St. Joseph’s massive hand
with St. Catherine’s. Christ’s expression in the print—seemingly one of gentleness
and slight concern—also looks like His counterpart in the painting. Ludovico
probably saw the fresco en route and produced the print during his trip or shortly after
he returned to Bologna. The labor and costs involved in print production and the
fact that the plate was quite large (measuring 267 x 327 millimeters), make it unlikely
that he traveled with his work in hand. Because Ludovico personally produced only
three other prints, later in life, one can only speculate why he would have made the
work at alL
78. Washington 1979, p. 480, under cat no. 1.
79. "..sulle amorose t corrette di Andrea del Sarto fermossi...” and that "Con la scorta dunque di questi
incamminossi egliprima al formate la sua studiata maniera, nella quale s'assicurd poi totalmente e si
perfeziono suite opre suddette del Sarti [rar], del Primaticcio, del Correggio, del Tiziano, del
Parmigiano". (Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 359 {Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 264S7
88
Critics may argue that Ludovico probably knew Andrea’s fresco from a copy
and had never seen the original but another borrowing, which has gone unnoticed,
counters that idea. Ludovico based St. Joseph’s pose on the figure of Joachim in
Andrea’s Birth o f the Virgin, also in SS. Annunziata. Their pensive attitudes and
costumes are markedly close, and they are both psychologically withdrawn from the
principle figures. Ludovico drew his sketch for Saint Joseph (Oxford, Ashmolean
Museum; fig. 15) after a young model using pen and brown ink overlying passages of
brown wash. Like the black chalk drawing for the Virgin and Child, the study is
lively , demonstrating that even when Ludovico emulated a work of art, he made
preparatory studies direcdy from life.
Like the Mystic Marriage, the Holy Family has an awkwardness typical o f a
young, inexperienced artist, but in the latter case one who was also uncomfortable
specifically with printmaking techniques and perspective (fig. 16). Malvasia indeed
described the print as “badly engraved” and classified it with others after designs by
Ludovico despite the explicit inscription.80 The eighteenth-century connoisseur,
Pierre-Jean Mariette, while praising the print’s composition and grace remarked that
Ludovico “did not succeed in engraving this print as freely as Agostino would have
done....”®1 Obvious weaknesses exist in the foreshortening of the forms, for
instance, St. Joseph’s left arm; in the anatomical integrity of the figures (especially
the relationship of the heads to the bodies); and in the confusing, asymmetrical
recession of the architecture. Ludovico had trouble in particular depicting Christ
right arm embracing the Virgin’s neck. The stiffly engraved lines suggest scrambled,
almost impromptu, patches of shading imitating the frenetic strokes Ludovico’s had
used in the drawing for the Virgin and Child (private collection; fig. 17). T he sky
looks as flat as a stage backdrop with its unlikely chain of clouds. Clearly Ludovico
had not yet developed a consistent method for modeling with a burin to evoke a
sense o f plasticity and surface texture. Thus, it is easy to see why all experts at least
agree that the engraving must be one of his first prints.82
80. Malvasia 1678, vol 1, p. 88 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 73).
81. “re excellens irdes grocer sui semblables a ceUes de Cortege”, also remarked that Ludovico “n'a pas
reussy & [egaler crossed out] graver cette estampe aussy librement qtu Pauroit fats ce dernier
[Agostino]...” Reproduced in A Noble Collection: The Spencer Albums of Old Master Prints, exh.
cat. by Marjorie B. Cohn, Cambricke, MA., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge,
MA.: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, 1992;, pp. 79-80 and n. 7.
82. As with the Holy Family Under an A rdt, Ludovico signed each of them. See Washington 1979,
An undeniable relationship exists between Ludovico’s engraving and a small,
detached fresco in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Parma of the Virgin and Child with Saint
John the Baptist, which is little known to scholars. Before 1815, it had been located
above a doorway in the cloister Santa Maria Maddalena in Parma, a Franciscan
convent. No fewer than a dozen early guidebooks and catalogues discuss the
painting. In his popular Viaggio pittoresco of 1671 (the earliest dated reference to the
work), Giacomo Barri attributed the lunette to Annibale, which is understandable
given that his Pieta with Saints of 1585 was in the adjacent church .83 Some sixty-eight
years later, the attribution was switched to Agostino, whose mature frescoes in
Parma’s Palazzo del Giardino, were much admired and widely known .84 According
to a report from the 1700s, Agostino painted the lunette in a few hours shortly before
he died when he was living in the Cappuccini monastery. But the figure types, style,
and quality have little in common with Agostino’s late frescoes in the Palazzo. A
handful of twentieth-century scholars accepted the traditional attribution to
Agostino, including Steven Ostrow (1966), but only with reservations.8* He
described the fresco as “ruined,” in “extremely poor” condition, and “submitted to a
heavy-handed cleaning”. H e even speculated that its surface was overpainted
because an eighteenth-century writer described the painting as incomplete although
both opinions are hard to believe given the work’s modest size. Ostrow, however,
argued for an early date, citing some resemblance between “the ovoid face of the
Madonna, and strangely high-browed and weak-chinned infants” and Agostino’s
Madonna and Child with Saints (Parma, Galleria Nazionale), painted in 1586 for the
nuns o f San Paolo, Parma.8** But the very features that Ostrow found reminiscent of
Agostino are characteristic of Ludovico instead.
T he artist apparently used the engraving and his preparatory study of the
Virgin and Child as prototypes; the Virgin’s pose is close in both the fresco and the
p. 483, cat. no. 2, ill., dated 1592; p. 484-485, cat. no. 3, ill., ca. 1595-1610; and p. 486-488, cat. no. 4,
ill., ca. 1602-1604.
83. Giacomo Barri, Viaggio pittoresco, in cui si notano distintamente tutte le pitture famose...cbe si
conservano in qualsivogfia attd deTItalia (Venice: G. G. Herz, 1671), n. p.
84. Clemente Ruta, Guida ed esatta rwtizia a fbrastieri delle piii ecceUmtipitture cbe sono in molte cbitse
della cittd di Parma... (Parma : Gozzi, 1739), p. 40, who adds th at Agostino painted the lunette
just before his death in Parma.
85. According to Armando Ottaviano Quintavalle, La Regia Galleria di Parma (Le Guide dei musei
italiam.) (Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1939), p. 290, Bodmer orally rejected the attribution to
Agostino.
p relim inary drawing for the print, the simple folds of the Virgin’s mantel reveal the
upper contour of her leg in both, her hands are in a similar position as are the folds of
fabric that gather around her right fingers and fall with the same doughy quality, note
also the slight tilt of her head in the fresco and drawing. A minor but significant
detail seems to originate from the engraving: the Virgin’s bare foot. Comparing the
children in the print and painting yield equal results. I would date the fresco to ca.
1577-
E a r l y E x a m p le s O f T h e S t u d ia t a M a n ie r a
he two paintings that I believe Ludovico made upon his return to Bologna in
T 1578 reflect a spirit of bold experimentation, when he employed the lessons

he had learned abroad to form new compositions. H e also looked at prints
for inspiration. But as one might expect, these early works of the studiata maniera
have somewhat deliberate, sometimes awkward characteristics, being hybrids rather
than wholly original creations. Still, they are significantly different from the M ystic
Marriage o f Saint Catherine and are more accomplished than the Holy Family Under A n
Arch and Vhrgn and Child with SaintJohn the Baptist.
T he earlier of the two seems to be the Lamentation (New York, Metropolitan

Museum o f Art; fig. 20), which is the newest addition to Ludovico’s oeuvre, having
surfaced on the art market in January 2000. Attributed to uLudovico Carazz? in the
1640 inventory of Alessandro Tanari’s possessions, Keith Christiansen published the
painting shortly after the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired it. He suggested a
date of ca. 1582-86, which I would revise to ca. i578/79-87 As Christiansen proposed,
it is likely that Alessandro Tanari commissioned the Lamentation directly from
Ludovico, because he also owned eleven other works by the painter including the
Marriage o f the Virgin (fig. 28), which I will discuss shortly. Tanari also owned three
copies by Ludovico: one after paintings by Parmigianino: the Madonna o f the Rose, the
Saint Rocb, and a drawing of the Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine that I mentioned
earlier.88 This idea is appealing, making Tanari “among Ludovico’s earliest and most
86. Ostrow 1966, voL 3, pp. 423-424, cat. no. Il/io; fig. 117.
87. Keith Christiansen, “Ludovico Carracci’s Newly Recovered Lamentation”Burlington Magazine

CXLII (2000), p. 416-22.
88. Bologna, Archivio di Stato, MS Prot. H.: “Una pittura d’un Cristo morto di Ludovico Carazzi”.
91
ardent patrons” in Christiansen’s w o r d s .^9 It seems likely, too, in my opinion, that

Ludovico based the Lamentation on a print by Parmigianino of the Entombment
(B.XVIII.30046; fig. 22) in deference to Tanari’s taste for Parmigianino’s religious
pictures. Ludovico adopted the pose of Parmigianino’s swooning Virgin. He placed
Christ’s body in the foreground as He appears in the print and arranged the other
figures grouped around Him. The Lamentation shows significant advances in
Ludovico’s rendering of anatomy, most evident in his depiction of Christ (fig. 21),
who, of all the figures in the painting, is the most natural. T he foreshortening of the
figure is much more accomplished than those in the Holy Family Beneath an Arch.
Aidan W eston Lewis first noted that a model striking a similar pose appears in a red
chalk drawing traditionally ascribed to Annibale (location unknown, fig. 24).9° Given
the close relationship between the drawing and the painting, however, Ludovico’s
authorship of the sheet seems more likely to me. T he wiiy contour lines and
vigorous hatching and cross-hatching resemble the technique Ludovico used in his
chalk drawing for the Holy Family Under an Arch (fig. 17). Still, the Lamentation has its
awkward passages. Christ’s left arm is positioned such that, at first look it seems to
belong to the Magdalene. The head partially visible behind the Virgin adds little to
the scene. T he conjunction of hands at the center of the composition distracts from
the poignancy of the moment. And it is difficult to understand who, or what,
supports Christ’s knees.
Another picture datable to ca. 1578/79 is the Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine
with Saints Joseph and Francis, and Angels (Goteborg, Goteborgs Konstmuseum; fig.
25). It is a much more ambitious rendering of the subject than Ludovico’s earlier
attempt, having seven figures. Despite their differences, when the two versions of
the theme were shown together in Bologna in 1993, Gail Feigenbaum proposed that
they dated only within two or three years of one another.91 This seems to me
improbable, based on their obvious differences in technique, style, and approach to
the subject. W hat is more, unlike the version in Bologna, which echoes
89. Ibid., p. 419.
90. The drawing was formerly in the Squire Collection, London, and then sold at Sotheby’s,
London, June 28, 1979, lot no. 21. See Italian 17 Century Drawings from British Private
Collections, exh. cat., Edinburgh, Merchant’s Hall (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Festival Ltd., 1972),
p. 10, cat. no. 22, ill.; Washington 1999, p. 63; fig. 2; and Christiansen 2000, p. 420, note 26 and
fig. 6.
91. See Bologna 1993, p. 26, cat. no. 12.
‘•v.
Parmigianmo’s style and exhibits a highly provincial maniera, the picture in
Gotenburg bears a striking resemblance to the Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine w ith
Saints John the Baptist, Elizabeth, and Zacharias (ca. 1512, Detroit, Institute of Art; fig.
26), a small, early altarpiece by Correggio.92 Ludovico could have known Correggio’s
painting, which was definitely in the Gonzaga Collection in Mantua by 1627. In 1592,
the small altarpiece may have been in a chapel in the town of Luzzara, which lies on
the River Po along the route from Mantua to Parma.93 T he disposition of the figures
within the nearly square compositions are especially close. Saint Catherine appears in
profile on the left in both works. Ludovico place the Virgin and Child at the center
of his composition also, and replaced Correggio’s Saint John the Baptist with Saint
Francis of Assisi, who likewise gestures toward the Madonna and Child. Finally, like
Correggio, Ludovico used a m uted palette overall with bright local colors and a silvery
sky, carefully depicting the delicate growth of foliage in the foreground. Ludovico
disrupted the balance of the central group with the awkward addition of two angels
on the right, where Correggio had painted an open, atmospheric landscape. Malvasia
reported that Ludovico traveled from Venice to Mantua and then to Parma, so it is
conceivable that he could have seen the painting during his travels especially since
the style o f his version of the subject suggests a date soon after he returned from his
studioso corso.
L u d o v ic o ’s C o r r e g g ism o
ext, I believe, Ludovico painted three distinctly Correggesque pictures:
N the Baptism o fChrist (Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen; fig.

27) the Marriage o f the Virgin (Private Collection, on loan to the National
Gallery, London; fig. 28), and the Vision o f Saint Francis (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum;
fig. 29J94 Nowadays, most scholars group these works together and date them to ca.
1582-1585 along w ith the works I discussed above, which I propose date several years
earlier. The three paintings are, however, extraordinary because they announce a
92. Cecil Gould expressed reservations about identifying the painting in Detroit with the picture
in Luzzara. I t was vaguely identified as a “Madonna coa S. Giovanni e un’altrafigura di Santo in
piedrin a le tte r to Vincenzo Gonzaga dated 1592. See Cecil Gould, Tne Paintings of
Correggio (London: Faber, 1976), pp. 199-200; and David Ekserdjian, Correggio (New Haven and
London: Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 32-37.
93. Ibid., p. 199.
94. See, respectively, Bologna 1993, pp. 28-29, cat. no. 13, ill.; pp. 62-63, cat. no. 29, ill.; and pp. 31-32,
cat. no. 14, ilL
93
new phase in Ludovico’s development foreshadowed in the Mystic Marriage o f Saint

Catherine (Gotenburg) in which he reinterpreted an early picture by Correggio. They
have much in common with Ludovico’s frescoes dated 1584 in the Sala di Giasone
(Bologna), so it is possible to assign them to roughly the same period of his activity.
Unlike the works that proceed them, the Baptism o f Christ, Marriage o f the
Virgin, and Vision o f Saint Francis display the umorbidezza delle came [softness of the
flesh}” and the umorbidezza colorito [softness of coloring}” that Vasari associated with
Correggio or what Agucchi referred to as uteneron, ufacile”, and “nobilc” characteristics.
Ludovico adopted new compositional formulas, placing full-length figures in open
settings, usually an extensive landscape bordered on one side by trees or
architecture. And unlike the canvas in Gotenburg, the group emulates Correggio’s
mature style. The paintings are more spacious than earlier example by Ludovico and
the figures have more naturalistic proportions, stouter builds, and less stylization
showing the lessons Ludovico had learned from studying the nude modeL They also
have uniform degrees of finish and the forms are softly and delicately modeled to
create a muffled sfumato. In addition to these features, Ludovico mastered
Correggio’s gift for instilling his figures with a “charming vivacity”, to quote Vasari
again. Down-turned heads cast in semi-shadow, delicate expressions of intense
concentration, and meaningful hand gestures w ith open fingers populate Correggio’s
works. Ludovico incorporated these effects into his paintings during the early
eighties and reinterpreted the models he had relied on over the past decade.
Indeed, the commissions he received caiied for new approaches to new subjects and
established him as a remarkable narrative painter.
In all probability Ludovico painted the Baptism o f Christ (fig. 27) and the
Marriage o f the Virgn (fig. 28), a small painting on copper known in two versions,
around 1580-83, that is before the Vision o f St. Francis (fig. 29). The Baptism contains
the earliest known depiction of a landscape by Ludovico. The moist atmosphere he
painted gave rise to lush vegetation, an effect that time has altered somewhat with
the oxidation of the green pigments he used. Such lush environments appear often
in Northern Italian pictures. In fact, close parallels exist between the Baptism and
Correggio’s Nolimetangere (Madrid, Museo del Prado; fig. 34), which was in Bologna
at the time, so it is tem pting to think that Correggio’s picture served as Ludovico’s
inspiration. Not only do the figural types compare well but the composition,
representation of the landscape, and the handling of light and color have much in
common. Although Denis Mahon (1956) dated Ludovico’s work to 1588-89, I agree
i
s
94
with Feigenbaum that the painting dates from ca. 1583 and was the model for
Annibale’s altarpiece of the same subject completed in 1585 (fig. 32).9S The
placement of Christ and John the Baptist at the center of the composition with
spectators on the left and an meandering landscape to the right also occur in
Annibale’s altarpiece, where God the Father materializes with many more putti and
music-making angels than appear in Ludovico’s work. Documents indicate that
Annibale was already at work on his painting in 1584, having received the commission
in October 1583.96 The archival and visual evidence suggests therefore that
Ludovico’s Baptism was painted in or before 1584.
As I mentioned above, the Marriage o f the Virgin exists in two versions, both
of which are painted on copper plates and are roughly the same, small size. Their
scale accounts for their relative lack of fine details. T he example in London (fig. 28)
is, however, of markedly higher quality and differs from its counterpart (Private
Collection; fig. 33)97 in numerous ways, most notably the architectural setting and the
omission o f some secondary figures. There is little doubt that the weaker of the two
is a studio production—perhaps even of a later date—and that the picture in London
is autograph. Malvasia mentioned in the Felsina that the Tanari family owned such a
painting on c o p p e r.9 * He referred to it again in his guidebook Le Pitture d i Bologna
(1686) when he discussed the second example, or—more accurately—-variant, which
he said was located in the choir of Santa Maria Lagrimosa degli Alemanni (called
Santa Teresa di strada M ag g io re).9 9 That other work was like the Tanari picture but
with ~quaiche aggtonte7*or “some additions”, Malvasia noted. (The presence o f such a
small painting in a church is unusual) It would appear, then, that two coppers known
today are those that Malvasia mentioned, but exactly which hung in the Palazzo
95. For a summary of opinions see Bologna 1993, p. 28, under cat. no. 13. 1 do not, however, see the
analogues Feigenbaum drew between the Baptism and Ludovico’s Annunciation (Bologna,
Pinacoteca Nazionale), which I believe dates to ca. 1586-87 based on comparisons with the
Madonna dei BargeUini, dated 1588 (Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale). For the Annunciation see
Feigenbaum 1990 and Bologna 1993, pp. 12-14,cat- no. 6; and for the Madonna dei BargeUini see
ibid., pp. 48-50, cat. no. 22.
96. See Boschloo 1974, vol. 2, p. 170, n. 6.
97. See Discoveriesfrom the Cinquecento, exh. cat by Clovis Whitfield with forward by Giuliano
Brigand, London, Colnaghi (London: Colnaghi and Co., 1982), pp. 32-33, cat no. 15, ill
98. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 495 (1841 ed., vol 1, p. 354).
99. a...dietro IA ltar magpore in Caro, il bellissimo ram (cb’era uscito di mente) delle Sponsalizie della B. V.
fistessissimo cbe banno i signori Marcbesi Tanari, con qualcbe aggionta del gran Lodomco...” (Malvasia
1686, p. 347).
95
Tanari and which in the church? An inventory of the Tanari collection, drafted in
1640 following the death of Alessandro Tanari, helps to clarify the issue further. The
“quadretto”, attributed to Ludovico, had hung in the “camera dove dorme la signora
Diana”, the “Diana” being Alessandro’s wife, Diana Barbieri. According to the
inventory, the painting had a solid silver frame baring the arms of both the Tanari
and Barbieri families.100 Luisa Ciammitti suggested in passing that the picture may
have commemorated the couple’s wedding. In fact, listed in another Bolognese
inventory (of 1658), one finds a similar description of a painting of a Madonna by
Denys Calvaert that apparently was part of a bride’s trousseau. Beneath. Beneath a
fringed tapestry of cream taffeta was a frame of silver that bore the arms of the Fava
and Orsi families.101 Presumably, Calvaert made the picture for Count Filippo Fava
who had married Ginevra Orsi, the daughter of a Bolognese senator, on May 22,1579,
and who commissioned the Jason cycle from the Carracci.102 Unfortunately, the date
of the Tanari/Barbieri wedding remains a mystery but there seems little doubt that
the picture in London is the one that belonged to Tanari. The dog in the
foreground, which is absent in the weaker example, is a traditional symbol for fidelity.
Morover, the arcaded chinch in the background of the secondary work may well
represent Santa Maria Lagrimosa degli Alemanni. I should also note that the weaker
version apparently has retained its old frame, which is made of stucco, not silver.10?
T he Vision o f St. Francis (fig. 29) contains in an enchanting nocturnal

landscape similar to one Ludovico represented in the Incantation o f Medea of 1584 (fig.
30). T he poor condition of the Medea fresco disallows any detailed stylistic or
technical comparisons, but the inclusion of a starry sky and crescent moon, the use
of multiple sources of illumination, and the important role that landscape plays in
100. Bologna, Archivio di Stato, Prot. H, folio 571": “Un quadretto del sposalizio di Nostra donna e San
Gioseffo di mono del signor Ludovico Carazzi, con omamento a cornice tutta dargento con Forme dei
Tanari e BarbierT (reprt. in Bologna 1985, p. 201).
101. Bologna, Archivio di Stato, MS Notarile-Notaio Marco Carracci, Protocollo B 1655-1659, July
r7, 1658, folios 76r-92v (17 pp. total): “Un quadro da letto con una Mad.a da mono di Diomsio
Fiamengo con cornice dargento tndorata con dentro Farma de SS.ri Fava e Orti con il suo tapedino di
tafeetdcremese con unajrangia” (cited in Morselli 1997, p. 257, under inv. no. 344).
102. Bologna 1984, p. 329.
103. Whitfield wrote: “It should be noted that the frame is a characteristic late seventeenth-
century Bolognese one, almost certainly the original one as it would be impossible to adapt it
to another size. There was quite a fashion for elaborate pierced designs of this sort in
Bologna in the last quarter of the Cinquecento, and these were of course in keeping with the
stucco surrounds to many of the fresco decorations painted by the Carracci” (Whitfield 1982,
p. 32, under cat. no. 15).
96
both compositions provide enough evidence to date the works within a year or two of
one another .I04 The painting’s early history is unknown. A late-seventeenth-
century engraving of the picture by Giovanni Maria Viani (d. 1700), however,
suggests that it was made for a Bolognese patron, either secular or religious. io 5 Even
though the print contains a dedication to Count Ugp Gioseffo Pepoli o f Bologna, it
does not necessarily prove that the Count owned the picture. It is possible that the
nobleman belonged to a Franciscan confraternity or simply admired the image.
Certainly the person or persons who commissioned the Vision o f St. Francis had a
rarified devotion to the Saint since Ludovico’s painting is purportedly the earliest
depiction of the subject. Nor were literary accounts common. None of the early
Franciscan sources mention the incident and, as Tim Grass noted in his excellent
discussion of the picture’s iconography, a detailed account of the vision did not
appear in print until 1625, although earlier manuscripts contain descriptions of the
legend.
The lack of an established visual tradition thus allowed Ludovico considerable

freedom to portray the Saint’s mystical experience in an imaginative and engaging
way. By placing the heads of Christ and Francis at the painting’s center, Ludovico
emphasized the intimacy of their relationship. Feigenbaum suggested that
Correggio’s Notte inspired the artist—a proposal I agree w ith106 But scholars have
generally shied away from naming Correggio as Ludovico’s direct muse. Mahon,
Dempsey, and Feigenbaum speculated that Ludovico based the Vision o f St. Francis
on a lost prototype by Federigo Barocci, who they saw as the indirect source for
Ludovico’s Correggismo.107 They believed so because an oil sketch and two drawings
by Francesco Vanni (1563-1610) and another drawing by Ventura Salimbeni (1567-
104. In light of my earlier discussion of astronomy and the Carracci imbresa, I should mention that
Gail Feigenbaum identified the constellation of stars in the bacxground of the Vision o f St.
Francis as Sagittarius and postulated that Christ’s radiant head occupies the position of the
sun, but why the painter did so remains unclear. “Le stelle sparse in cielo sono tanto ‘naturali’
uanto ‘simbolicne’. La loro configurazione, benche sia difficule esserne sicuri, sembra
aisegnare la costellazione zodiacale del Sagittario, il che porebbe la testa di Cristo nella
posizione essata del sole astronimico” (Bologna 1993, p. 39, under cat. no. 14).
105. For an illustration the engraving see Tim Grass, “Een nieuwe interpretatie van Lodovico
Carracci’s ‘Visioen van Antonius van Padua’,” Bulletin van bet Rijksmuseum X
XII (197$), p. 175,
I
fig. 2; in addition to Bologna 1993, p. 32, n. 1, under cat. no. 14.
106. Bologna 1993, p. 30.
107. See Mahon 1957, P-195?Dempsey 1977, pp. 7-10; and Bologna 1993, p. 30, cat. no. 14.
97
1613) reproduce the same composition.10^ T h e idea is that all three painters
emulated Barocci’s long-missing picture. Dempsey, in particular, elaborated on this
idea, speculating that “elements identifiably Baroccesque began to introduce
themselves into the paintings of both Ludovico and Annibale” ca. i583.I09 But no
trace of Barocci’s model exists neither in the form of copies after the “missing”
painting nor preparatory drawings for it, even though many of Barocci’s drawings have
been preserved. A much simpler and more likely interpretation can be drawn from
the evidence: namely that Vanni saw Ludovico’s painting during the trip he made to
Bologna in the early eighties and that Salimbeni (Vanni’s half-brother) knew Vanni’s
studies after it. Vanni was in Bologna in 1583 before returning to Siena in 1584, thus
giving him the opportunity to admire Ludovico’s newly-painting work.110 This means
that the Vision o f St. Francis could not date later than mid-1584. Ludovico’s early
preparatory drawing for the painting (London, British Museum; fig. 31) also
demonstrates that he composed the painting from scratch and originally he had quite
a different composition in mind, one in which the Virgin appears on the left and
motions toward the Saint.111 Lastly, the existence o f Vanni’s and Salimbeni’s copies
after the Vision o fSt. Francis underscore Ludovico’s influence around 1583.
O f course, the works I discussed above represent only a part o f Ludovico’s

early production. Others were lost altogether or are, as yet, unrecognized. The
extant group, however, supports Malvasia’s account of the Ludovico’s formative years.
Combined with sparse documentary evidence w ith which to build a chronological
sequence, it is possible to construct a more precise and reasoned account of he
activities, one that differs somewhat from the prevailing views. He was already active
during the 1570s, a period that modem critic have not examined seriously.
Fortunately, the works that survive represent distinct periods in Ludovico’s
development as Malvasia described it. The Mystic Marriage o f St. Catherine (ca. 1575,
fig. 11), I believe, dates from the time when Ludovico emulated Bolognese
108. See Dempsey 1977, p. 8; and Peter A. Riedl, “Francesco Vanni als Zeichner,” Muncbner
Jabrbucb aerbildenden Kunst X
XX(1979), pp. 91-92, fig
s.14 and 1$.
109. Dempsey 1977, p. 9.
n o . See ibid, p. 8.
h i. For the drawing see Babette Bohn, “The Chalk Drawings of Ludovico Carracci,” M aster
Drawings X X II (1984), p
.406. Boschloo, Italian 1993, p p.44-45, described the drawing as
ossibly a “first attempt by Ludovico to visualize the legend” but concluded that “it cannot
Ee regarded as a preliminary study” for the painting.
98
Mannerism. The influence o f Florentine and Parmese models, which the artist saw
during his studioso corso, appear in the Holy Family Beneath A n Arch (fig. 15) and the
Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist, both ca. 1577. The new style or studiata
maniera that resulted from Ludovico’s trip is evident in pictures like the Lamentation
(ca. 1578/79, fig. 20) and the M ystic Marriage o f St. Catherine with St. Joseph, St. Francis,
and Angels (ca. 1579, fig. 25). Those paintings exhibit a boldness and confidence
worthy of a young member o f the Painter’s Guild. T he Baptism o f Christ (ca. 1580-83,
fig. 27), Marriage o f the Virgin (ca. 1580-83, fig. 28), and Vision o f St. Francis (ca. 1583/84,
fig. 29) represent Ludovico’s mature, reformed style. They emulate Correggio’s lyrical
maimer and reveal his experimental nature at a time when Annibale painted in a
more naturalistic style. Thus Ludovico was complex, flexible, and innovative; but
because most art historians believe that Annibale was the innovator of the family, the
cumbersome and tough image of Ludovico as the “O x,” which Malvasia challenged in
the 1670s will, undoubtedly, persist years from now.
C h a p t e r F iv e
F i n d i n g T h e W ay
Many things might be said o f the works of this master [Antonio da Correggio]',
but since, among the eminent men of our art, everything that is to be seen by
his hand is admired as something divine, I will say no more. (Giorgio Vasari)1
A M a p F r o m T h e P ast
iorgio Vasari’s vita o f Girolamo da Carpi (1501-1556) contains an intriguing
G account of Girolamo’s youthful travels and his appreciation of Correggio’s

style. The tale is rich in details that Vasari had heard from the painter, a
personal friend, in 1550.2 Bom and trained in Ferrara, Girolamo found work in
Bologna where he achieved modest fame in his early twenties as a society portraitist.3
According to Vasari, his works were perfectly acceptable (the biographer described
them as, “passing good likenesses”), that is until Girolamo saw Correggio’s Noli me
tangere (early 1502s, Madrid, Museo del Prado; fig. 34) in the collection of the
Hercolani family of Bologna, who had recently commissioned it, and several
exceptional examples of modem art from the likes of Raphael.4 The painting “took
possession of Girolamo’s heart”, we read; its elegant figures of Christ and the
Magdalene, golden atmosphere, and saturated colors, were “executed with
1. Vasari 1568, vol. 2, pt. 3a, chapt. 85 (“V ita dAntonio da Correggio Pittore”), p. 19 (transL: De Vere
1996, vol. 1, p. 649).
2. Ibid., vol 3, pt. 3, chapt. 146 (?Vita di Benvenuto Garofalo, e di Girolamo da Carpi Pittori Ferraresi,
E daltri Lom bard^, pp. 552-56.
3. For general studies of Girolamo’s career seeAlberto Serafini, Girolamo daCarpi, pittore e
arcbitettoferrarese (1501-1556) con 199 illustrazioni (Rome: Tip. dell'Unione editrice, 1915; Amalia
M ezzetti, Girolamo da Ferrara detto da Carpi: Ijopera (Milan: Silvana, 1977); Alessandra
Pattanaro, Girolamo da Carpi: ritratti, (Cittadella {Padua}: Bertoncello artigrafiche, 2000).
4. Ekserdjian 1997, pp. 156-58.
99
IO O
incredible softness and excellence ”.5 In order to learn how Correggio had achieved
such lovely effects, Girolamo copied the picture and became inspired to see and
reproduce others by the master in nearby Modena and Parma, which he must have
heard about by word of mouth.6 Modena lies along the route from Bologna to Parma
and contained three important paintings by Correggio that Girolamo especially
admired: two altarpieces, the Madonna and Child with Saints Sebastian, Geminian, and
Roch (Dresden, Gemaldegalerie, ca. 1524)7 and the Madonna o f Saint George (Dresden,
Gemaldegalerie, 1530)8; and a panel in private hands, the Mystic Marriage o f Saint
Catherine w ith Saint Sebastian (Pans, Musee du Louvre, ca. 1523).9 Churches in Parma
housed many of Correggio’s masterpieces, among them his most ambitious
undertaking, the Assumption o f the Virgin (finished in 1530; fig. 35), which decorated
the cupola of the Duomo and was acclaimed for the dramatic foreshortening o f its
figures.10 Girolamo also copied a fresco of the Coronation o f the Virgin (ca. 1522/23, fig.
36) in the apse of San Giovanni Evangelista and the Madonna della Scodella (Parma,
Pinacoteca Nazionale, 1530; fig. 37)n , a lyrical altarpiece formerly in the church of San
Sepolcro that Vasari described as “divine”.12 Based on the dates of the pictures
mentioned above, Girolamo must have made his journey after 1530, when he was in
his early thirties and shortly before (or just after) Correggio’s death in 1534.
A t the time of Girolamo’s sojourn, Correggio was quite famous in Parma and
Modena, having worked mainly for religious orders. Vasari explained precisely why
his style was so appealing. W hile many artists had tried to reproduce the natural
5. Vasari 1568, vol. 3, pt. 3, chapt. 146 (‘Vita di Benvenuto Garofalo, e di Girolamo da Carpi Pittori
Ferraresi, E tfaltri Lombard?), p. 552 (transL: De Vere 1996, p. 452).
6. See Ekserdjian 1997, pp. 156-59, fig. 175.
7. Ibid., pp. 177-83, fig. 197 (formerly in the oratory of Saint Sebastian, Modena).
8. Ibid., pp. 184-92, fig. 205 (formerly in the oratory of Saint Peter Martyr, Modena).
9. Ibid., pp. 150 and 177-78, fig. 166 (painted for a Francesco Grillenzoni, Modena). Vasari 1568,
voL 3, pt. 3, chapt. 146 (‘Vita d i Benvenuto Garofalo, e di Girolamo da Carp?), pp. 552-53.
10. Ekserdjian 1997, pp. 241-63, fig 242.
11. For the Coronation o fthe Virgin see ibid., pp. 108-21, fig. 108; and for the Madonna della Scodella
see ibid., pp. 219-33, % 223~
12. Vasari 1568, voL 3, pt. 3, chapt. 146 (‘Vita di Benvenuto Garofalo, e di Girolamo da Carpi Pittori
Ferraresi, E daltri Lombard?), p. 552 (transL: De Vere 1996, vol 2, p. 453).
IO I
world, Correggio had captured “an air of such beauty in the heads, that they appear as
if made in Paradise; nor is it possible to find more beautiful hair, make lovelier hands,
or any coloring more pleasing and natural”.1? Elsewhere in the Lives, such as in the
proemio to part three and in Correggio’s biography, Vasari attributed to the master the
same unique expression of naturalism whereby his figures actually seemed to “rida
[smile]”.1* For the biographer and Girolamo, Correggio’s style embodied new ideals
and having copied his pictures, Girolamo devised a fresh approach to painting that
was, nonetheless, highly selective but still dependent on Correggio’s naturalismo and
colorismo. “All these works, thus copied by Girolamo,” Vasari wrote, “were the reason
that he so improved his maimer, that it did not appear like his original manner, or in
any way the same thing.” And like so many painters, Girolamo did not limit himself
to studying Correggio’s works alone. Raphael’s Saint Cecilia was an omnipresent
source o f inspiration in Bologna:
Now, since it is inevitable that those who are pleased to follow some
>articular manner, and who study it with lovingness, should acquire it—at
{east, in some degree (whence it also happens that many become more
excellent than their masters)—Girolamo caught not a little of Correggio’s
manner; wherefore, after returning to Bologna, he imitated [lim ito]m m
always, not studying any other thing but that manner and that altarpiece
[Saint Cecilia] by the hand o f Raffaello da Urbino which we mentioned as
being in the city.J5
Nowadays Girolamo’s paintings do not appear especially Correggesque; he generally
worked on a smaller scale, used brilliant colors over a dark ground, and depicted
stockier figures. But Vasari’s account at least demonstrates how broadly an artist
could interpret another’s style yet still “imitate” him.
The experience of travel to Parma and to other cities north of Bologna also
transformed the art of the Carracci. They, like Girolamo, studied and copied
paintings by Correggio and other canonical Old Masters, such as Titian, Andrea del
Sarto, and Parmigianino, who were not necessarily well represented or popular in
13. ucon arte di teste tanto belle, cbepaiomfatte inparadiso. Ne e possibile vedere ipiu bei capegli, tie le pin
belle mani 6 a ltn coloritopiu vago, e naturale (ibid, p. 452). Vasari was writing here specifically
about the Mystic Marriage o fSaint Catherine with Saint Sebastian (Paris, Musle du Louvre).
14. See note 41 below.
15. “Epercbi eforza, cbe colon, a i qualipiace fare alcuna maniera, e la studiano conamore, la imparino , al
metio in quakbeparte; onde autne ancora cbe mold diuengonopiu eccell Cbe i Ion maestri non sono stati,
Girolamoprefe assaidella maniera del Coreggh. Onde tomato a Bologna, fimito sempre, non studiando
altro cbe quella, it la tavola, cbe in quella citta dicemmo di mam di Raffaello da Urbmo” {Ibid., p. 553
[transL: De Vere 1996, voL 2, p. 453J).
102
Bologna ca. 1580. Through travel Ludovico and his cousins also met contemporary
painters, like Jacopo Bassano (ca. 1510-1592), Jacopo Tintoretto (1519-1588), and
Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), who shared similar concerns about the visual arts.
Ludovico was the first of the trio to see Correggio’s paintings in Parma around 1578
and to incorporate elements of his and Parmigianino’s styles into his works of the
“studiata maniera”, as I explained in the previous chapter. Malvasia stated that
Ludovico, in turn, “persuaded his cousins to leave their homeland for a little while
and to go see the works of Correggio, and then those o f Titian and Veronese, and
also to make the same tour of study [studioso corso] that he had so gready profited
from.”16
Is it possible that Girolamo’s vita inspired the Carracci? His general interest
in Correggio, his itinerary, and his approach parallel those of the Carracci. In his
letters to Ludovico, Annibale mentioned the very same pictures in Parma that had
captured Girolamo’s attention and compared them to Raphael’s Saint Cecilia. A t the
very least Girolamo’s story proves that the studiosi corsi of the Carracci were not
unprecedented, that the works that impressed them impressed others, and that the
act o f copying could help painters formulate styles of their own. The account fosters
compelling questions regarding the Carracci and Vasari’s book, the role travel played
in an artist’s development, the fluidity of artistic interpretation, and Correggio’s
posthumous reputation.
Even though Vasari vividly described works o f art, his words were no
substitute for seeing them in person, but, apparently, in the sixteenth century artists
rarely traveled for the primary purpose of study. In fact, Vasari’s account of
Girolamo’s journey is among only a few study trips mentioned in the Lives.*7 Given
the expenses, perils, and time that were involved in traveling and the restrictions that
local guilds exercised, it is no wonder that painters, sculptors, architects, and other
members of the working class remained close to home or moved to other towns only
when employment made relocating economically feasible. Nor is it possible to say
16. Malvasia 1678, vol 1, p. 365 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 268; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 152).
17. In reference to Vasari’s account David Ekserdjian wrote: “Vasari tells stories about artists
copying each other, not least in relation to Girolamo da Carpi’s pilgrimage in pursuit of works
by Correggio, but that sort of apprentice homage is quite different from established artist’s
borrowings of a single figure” (Ekserdjian 1997, p. 319, n. 2).
103
nowadays that most artists actually wanted to travel and learn about artistic trends
abroad.
Even so, it is easy to imagine that the Vite acted as a map that the
Carracci—and others—followed. It was as much a guide for artistically-minded
travelers as it was a history o f art and artistic practices. A t a time when few
publications were available to those specifically interested in seeing works of art;
Vasari’s text and its extensive Indice gave the locations of hundreds of pictures and
sculptures throughout Italy that were made important by their inclusion. And while
the Lives charted the whereabouts of works of art in a biographical and historical
context, Vasari also popularized critical criterion for evaluating artists, using clear
stylistic distinctions expressed in a precise language.1** The Vite was and is like a
great compass directing artistic tastes and in many cases inventing them.
P a p e r T r a il s : A n n ib a l e ’s L e t t e r s A n d T h e La n g u a g e O f V a sa r i
gucchi emphasized, in a general way, the importance of the “bello studio”
A that the Carracci had enjoyed in Venice and Lombardy and Bellori wrote
somewhat unreliably on the subject.^ But Malvasia discussed the artists’
18. The recent publication of early texts on CD-ROMs now allows scholars to conduct
comprehensive data-base searches in seconds for keywords and phrases that would otherwise
require weeks of painstaking reading to find. Complete transcriptions of both sixteenth-
century editions of Vasari’s Vite, which I have consulted extensively throughout this study,
are now available in electronic form together with other fundamental works dating from the
fifteenth- until the seventeenth-centuries: A rt Theorists o f the Italian Renaissance, CD-ROM,
(Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1986).
19. According to Bellori the brothers traveled to Parma together, where Annibale painted the
Pietd w ith Saints of 1585 (Parma, Galleria Nazionale)—the only early picture that Bellori
described at length in nis vita of Annibale. Accordingly, Annibale remained in Parma “and
nearly localities in Lombard/’ and then joined Agostino in Venice who, “was already there
working at engraving and waiting for him (Bellori 1672, p. 22 {ed. 1976, p. 34; transl.: Enggass
1968, p. 7]). Bellori stated that Annibale then returned home in advance of Agostino and
painted two altarpieces: the Madonna and Child with Saints John the Evangelist and Catherine
(Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale), “a praiseworthy work for its new study of Correggio,” and
th e Assumption o fthe Virgin (Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale) (ibid., p. 23 {ed. 1976, p. 35; transl.
Enggass 1968, p. 9]). He added that “with Agostino’s return to Bologna a little later, the
famous Academy was opened” (ibid., p. 24 {ed. 1976, p. 36; transl. Enggass 1968, p. 10D. For the
Madonna and Child with SaintsJohn toe Evangelist and Catherine see Posner 1971, vol. 2, pp. 30-31,
no. 72{S], ill.; and for the Assumption o f the Virgin see ibid., pp. 29-30, no. 69, ill. But Beflori’s
account presents some serious and irrevocable chronological problems: the two paintings that
he claimed Annibale executed before Agostino’s return in the early 1580s are actually dated
1593 and 1592, respectively, that is, approximately a decade after the Carracci Academy
opened in 1582. Moreover, since Annibale completed the Pieta after not before the Academy
had opened. These inconsistencies, and many others in his biographies of Annibale aid
Agostino, demonstrate that the Roman biographer had little accurate information about the
Bolognese activities of the Carracci.
104
“studiost corsi” in depth, citing a variety of important persons and documents as his
sources. Malvasia learned about the trips from several prominent Bolognese painters
who had known the Carracci: Alessandro Tiarini (1577-1668), Vincenzo Spisanelli
(1595-1662), Francesco Albani (1578-1660), Guido Reni (1575-1642), and Giacomo
Cavedone (1577-1660), with whom Malvasia had studied painting as a young man. He
included many of their reports in the Felsina, although he also recorded additional
remarks in the hundreds of pages o f notes now known as the “Carte Malvasia.” The
“Carte” consist mostly of material left out of the Felsina and still unpublished.20
Malvasia also collected a great number of artist’s letters of which he transcribed only
a few in his book. O f exceptional interest are three letters addressed to
Ludovico—two by Annibale and another by Agostino—that convey a wealth of
information regarding their travels, although the example by Agostino had been
partially mutilated and was thus incomplete and undated.21
Annibale’s Parmese letters are key for establishing a chronology of events.

Writing in mid-April 1580, he referred to Ludovico’s prior visit to Parma, thus
corroborating Malvasia’s report that Ludovico had visited the town in advance of his
cousins and had returned home shortly before joining the painter’s guild on March
23, 1578.22 Oral histories regarding Agostino’s itinerary were tangled even in
Malvasia’s day; Giacomo Cavedone and Francesco Albani, “repeatedly expressed
opinions {about Agostino’s itinerary] that were diametrically opposed ”.23 “Cavedone
asserted that Agostino moved to Parma a few weeks after Annibale {in 1580}” whereas
“Albani would clash with this, saying that this was not true, because Agostino stayed
20. Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale MS 16 and MS 17 [C. C. Malvasia, “Scritti originali del Conte Carlo
Cesare Malvasia spettantialia sua Felsina Pittrice”]. See Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Vite de pittori
bolognesi; abpunti inediti, ed. Adriana Afelli (Bologna: Commissione per i testi di lingua, 1961),
pp. xii andxxxiii-xlvi; and ibid., Scritti originali del Conte Carlo Cesare Malvasia spettanti alia sua
Felsina pittrice, ed. Lea Marzocchi with preface by Luciano Anceschi (Bologna: ALFA, 1983).
Neither publication contains Malvasia’s notes for the vite of the Carracci.
21. These documents were among many that Malvasia had “acquired sometimes at considerable
cost from their last remaining relatives and heirs {ofthe Carracci} and from other people as
well” (Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 365 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 268;transL: Summerscale 2000, p.
92]). Unfortunately, most of the original documents that the biographer had published were
lost together witn the bulk of his library and personal papers, so an analysis of the originals is
impossible at this time. For a discussion of Malvasia’s collection of letters see Perini 1990,
pp. 73-75; and Summerscale 2000, pp. 19-20,49,91,94 (n. 31), 170,178, 240,257,258,259, and 311.
22. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 455 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 326).
23. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 367 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 270; transl: Summerscale 2000, p. 98).
105
behind [in Bologna] to engrave many things [for Domenico Tibaldi}” and that “only
much later did the two of them return to Parma [together]”M The evidence suggests
that Albani was correct because no trace of Agostino’s physical presence in Parma
exists until 1586, when he painted the Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine (Parma,
Pinacoteca Nazionale) for the chapel of the Benedictine Monastics of San Paolo in
Parma. H e also executed three large prints: The Cordons o f Saint Francis, dedicated to
one Nicolo Cicaglia, the Father General of the Franciscan Conventuals from nearby
Correggio; The Madonna o f SaintJerome after Correggio’s famous Parmese altarpiece
commonly called “/ / Giomo”; and an Ecce Homo that also reproduced a picture by
Correggio in Parma.2* Agostino published the first two prints himself, presumably in
Bologna, in 1586, thus suggesting his presence at home later that year.
In the first letter Annibale announced that he had arrived in Parma the
following day (April 18, 1580) with little money but he assured Ludovico that his
lodgings in “the usual tavern with the sign of the rooster” were informal and
comfortable.26 He had just returned from seeing Correggio’s Madonna della Scodella,
one of Girolamo da Carpi’s favorites, and the Madonna o f Saint Jerome. Annibale
intended to stay in Parma “without any ceremony or obligations”, in order to enjoy his
liberty and “study and draw”. But a ucaporale Andrea” disrupted this plan .27 The
gentleman knew Ludovico and, as Annibale stated in the second letter, owned
paintings by Ludovico of Saint Margaret and Saint Dorothy, both half-length
figures.28 I t is clear that Annibale had met the caporale for the first time since the
gentleman had asked Annibale for a letter of introduction from his cousin. He
insisted that Annibale stay at his home, using the same room where Ludovico had
once slept. Only with the help of a umastro Giacomo” (the “padrone” or innkeeper)
24. Ibid, p. 99.
25. For the prints see Washington 1979, pp. 242-47, cat. nos. 141-43, ill., respectively. For an
additional discussion of the Gordons o fSaint Francis see Harris 2001, pp. 396-400.
26. Lost letter dated April 18, 1580 from Annibale Carracci in Parma to LudovicoCarracci in
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 365 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, pp. 268; transL:
27. Ibid.
28. See lost letter dated April 28,1580 from Annibale Carracci in Parma to Ludovico Carracci in
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 366 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 270]).
io 6
was Annibale able to stave off the invitation.^ W riting on April 28th Annibale
referred to “two other paintings” by Ludovico that the caporale had sold at a great
profit. H e added that the gentleman wanted to form a business partnership with
him once he had produced copies after paintings by Correggio and offered him as an
incentive a buckskin collar and the promise of a black city dress in exchange for said
copies.3° He stated, too, that he planned to go to Venice. Agostino apparently did
not join his brother on that leg of the trip but remained in Bologna to finish several
works requiring his attention. W hen Annibale arrived in Venice, Agostino wrote to
Ludovico that his brother was “amazed and stunned” by the art that he saw.31
Charles Dempsey made the compelling observation that Annibale’s “caporale

Andrea” was “almost certainly the master goldsmith Andrea Casalino (ca. 1530-1597),
who designed the coinage struck in the Famese mint, and who was employed by the
Famese as a kind of talent scout for artists in other cities.”32 Dempsey apparently
did not know that Casalino had been active in near-by Piacenza during the latter half
of the 1570s and that documents prove he lived in a house in the parish o f San
Bartolomeo della Ghiaia in Parma on February 6, 1580 (just two months before
Annibale arrived there). An atto o f September 28,1581 refers to Casalino as a citizen
of Parma .33 Another seemingly minor, but historically accurate detail in the letter is
Annibale’s reference to staying at a tavern “aWinsegne del gallo [with the sign o f the
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 365 {Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, pp. 268; transl.:
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 366 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, pp. 269; transL:
31. Lost, undated letter from Agostino Carracci in Venice to Ludovico Carracci in Bologna,
(transc. in Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 368 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 270]; transl.: Washington
1979, P- 5u)-
32. Charles Dempsey in Washington 1986, p. 239.
33. For a general discussion of Casalino’s life see Fabio Arisi, “Casalino, Andrea” in Diztonario
biograpco degli italiani, Rome, i960-; the documents are cited in Andrea Ronchini, “L’orefice
A .C .”, A tti e memorie della Reale Deputazione di storiapatria per la provincie modenesi e parmensi
V I, 1872, p p . 233-44.
107
rooster] ”34 In 1961, Fausto Razzetti published a brief article chronicling inns in
seventeenth-century Parma confirming the existence o f the Gallo in archival records
dating from the seicento and noting that the derivation of name was in keeping with
local traditions .35
Certain clues in the letters support their authenticity and others, I believe,
demonstrate that Annibale had read Vasari’s VHe. Because the book would have
provided the Carracci with an excellent introduction to the places they visited on
their studiosi corsi, it is possible that they traveled with the Vite in hand, if not in
mind. T he language Annibale employed in his letters to Ludovico echoes Vasari’s
commentaries on the works of Correggio, Parmigianino, and Raphael—an
observation that no one has yet made. Annibale’s reference to Correggio’s demise is
the most obvious and direct citation he made of information in the Vite. “It drives
me crazy and makes me weep inside to think of the misfortune of poor Antonio
[Correggio]”Annibale wrote, “such a great man, if he can be called a man and not an
angel incarnate, in wasting his life in a country where he was not recognized and
raised to the stars and where he had to die miserably. ”36 Vasari alone had written
about Correggio’s professional sufferings, melancholy, and early death, which he
attributed to miserliness. Traveling beneath the hot sun on foot and with a heavy bag
of copper coins in hand, Correggio had reportedly fallen ill and died .37 It is possible,
of course, that the story was part of local lore, but elsewhere in his letters, Annibale
spoke in terms that Vasari had employed.
Annibale’s critical assessment of Raphael’s Saint Cecilia turns on end Vasari’s

description of the altarpiece. “I went this morning to see his [Correggio’s] altarpiece
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 365 {Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 268; transL:
35. Fausto Razzetti, “Alberghi di Parma nel seicento,” Aurea Parma XLV (1961), pp. 206-207.
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 366 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 269; transl.
37. In their study of artistic personalities entitled Bom o f Saturn, Margot and Rudolf Wittkower
cited Annibale’s letter as evidence of the popularity of Vasari’s account, especially since they,
like so many scholars of the time, suggested that Malvasia had “invented” the document
Ironically, tne Wittkowers wrote that Vasari’s stoiy was probably true because “it is unjust
to charge Vasari with deliberately spreading absurd falsehoods” (Wittkower 1963, p. 210).
with Saint Jerome and Saint Catherine [known as II Giomo; fig. 38], and his Madonna
on the way to Egypt with the Bowl”, Annibale wrote,
And I swear to God that I would not exchange either one of these for
Raphael’s Saint Cecilia; who would deny that Saint Catherine [in
Correggio’s painting has a grace, in that gesture of placing her head so
gracefully on the foot of that lovely Infant, more beautiful than
anything in [Raphael’s] Mary Magdalene? Or that the beautiful old
man, Saint Jerome, is at once grander and more tender than [Raphael’s]
Saint Paul, which once seemed a miracle to me, and now seems a
wooden thing, so hard and sharp [vnacosa dilegno tanto dura, etagliente]?
Now, Vasari had considered Raphael’s painting a masterpiece, the epitome of

grace, illusionism, and the affetti. H e wrote how “the flesh” of Raphael’s Saints
“quivers”, they “breath”, and their “pulse beats”. Annibale, however, found the
figures “wooden”, their poses stiff, and their contours hard. O f all the features
Annibale could have commented on, such as the serenely beautiful Virgin or
delightfully puckish Christ Child, he saw “gratia” in the way that Saint Catherine
(actually Maiy Magdalene; fig. 39) places “her head so gracefully on the foot o f that
lovely Infont”. Raphael’s Magdalene, according to Vasari’s description, assumed “an
attitude o f marvelous grace; turning her head, she seems full of joy at her conversion”.
Likewise, Annibale compared the grandeur of Correggio’s Saint Jerome, a “beautiful
old man” traditionally depicted as a scholar, with Raphael’s Saint Paul, who Vasari
admired for his “profound air o f knowledge” and “pride of aspect in dignity. ”38
Even though Annibale’s commentary on the Saint Cecilia countered Vasari’s

claims about the picture, Vasari’s interpretation of Correggio’s Giomo had colored
Annibale’s impression of the painting. The historian greatly admired its
cheerfulness and colorism, citing the child and the Saint Jerome as embodying those
respective features:
For [the church of\ S. Antonio, likewise...[/» Parma, Corregfrio...painted a

panel wherein is a Madonna, with Saint Mary Magdalen; and near
them is a boy [putto] in the guise of an angel, holding a book in his
hand, who is smiling [ride], with a smile [rida] that seems so natural
that he moves whoever beholds him to smile [riso] also, nor can a
person, be his nature ever of melancholy, see him without being
cheered [xf rallegri]. There is a S. Jerome; and the whole work is
coloured in a manner so wonderful and so astounding, that painters
38. Vasari 1568, voL 2, pt. 3, chapt. 93 (“V ita di Raffaello da Vrbino Pittore, & Acbitetto”), pp. 76-77
(transl: De Vere 1996, voL 1, p. 729).
109
revere it for the marvel o f its coloring and it is scarcely possible to paint
better .39
One can hardly read the passage and not notice Vasari’s repeated use of the word
“ridere”, in various forms to describe the “putto” that provoke laughter. Annibale
clearly echoes this convention when he explained to Ludovico why he preferred
Correggio over Parmigianino:
even your beloved Parmigianino will have to stand aside patiently,
because having attem pted to imitate all the grace in this great man, I
recognize that his grace falls short of Correggio’s, because the little
putti \buttini] of Correggio breathe, live, analaugh {spirano, vivorto e
ridono] with a grace and truth that compel us to laugh and to feel happy
along with th e m .4°
In theproemio to part three of the Vite, which contains Correggio’s biography, Vasari
summarized the most distinctive characteristics of the leading painters of the
sixteenth century. He wrote that it would be impossible “to describe the charming
vivacity [viuacita] seen in the works of Antonio da Correggio, who painted hair in
detail, not in the precise manner used by the masters before him, which was
constrained, sharp, and dry [difficile, tagliente, fasecca], but soft [morbidt] and feathery,
with each single hair visible, such was his facility in making them; and they seemed
like gold and more beautiful than real \yiut\ hair, which is surpassed by that which he
painted.” In Vasari’s opinion, however, it was Parmigianino who had excelled even
Correggio “in many respects in grace, adornment, and beauty of manner jgratia], as
maybe seen in many of his pictures, which smile [ridano] on whoever beholds them;
and even as there is perfect illusion of sight in the eyes, so there is perceived the
beating of the pulse [ilbatter de’polsi], according as it best pleased his brush. ”4*
Annibale’s interest in Correggio’s naturalismo, which he discovered in Parma

in 1580, and his distaste for Parmigianino’s grace extended beyond matters of
aesthetics. As he made clear to Ludovico in his letter of April 28, 1580, the youth
rejected the idea o f reusing the inventions of others, a practice that Ludovico had
employed in such derivative paintings as the Lamention (fig. 21).
39. Vasari 1568, voL 2, pt. 3a, chapt. 85 (“Vita tfAntonio da Correggio Pittore”), pp. 17-18 (transl.: De
Vere 1996, vol. 1, p. 647).
4° Lost letter dated April 18, 1580 from Annibale Carracci in Parma to Ludovico Carracci in
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 365 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, pp. 268-69; transl.:
Summerscale 2000, pp. 95-96D.
41. Vasari 1568, vol. 2, pt. 3a (“Proemio” to Part II), p. 37 (transl.: De Vere 1996, vol. 1, p. 621).
no
Parmigianino doesn’t stand comparison with Correggio, because

Correggio’s works were his own thought, his own conception, which
one sees he drew out of his head, and invented on his own, testing
these only against the original. The others all lean on something that
is not their own, either on the model, or on statues, or on drawings or
prints—all the works of these others represent things as they could be,
but Correggio’s as they truly are. I don t know how to explain this and
make myself understood, but I understand it very well within myself.4 2
T h e C a r r a c c i An d C o n t e m p o r a r y T heorists
n his now-classic Studies in Seicento A rt and Theory, published in 1947, Denis
I Mahon sought to dispel any notion that Ludovico and his cousins were
interested in theorizing .43 He dismissed Faberio’s orazione as a literary
convention, Annibale’s letters from 1580 as forgeries, and the usage of the popular
term “eclectic” as largely an invention of the nineteenth century misapplied to the
art of the Carracci. His elegantly presented views met with litde resistance,
particularly from Rensselaer Lee in a book review that Mahon himself called
“generous, erudite, and friendly”.44 There Lee identified the writings of Giovanni
Paolo Lomazzo and Giovanni Battista Armenini (ca. r525-r6o9), specifically, as
advocating “eclectic” methods and ideas that the Carracci shared in quite similar
ways. Lomazzo had written two complex works for dilettanti, the Trattato delfarte de la
pittura 0584) and Idea del tempio dellapittura (r590). O n the other hand, Armenini
authored De' Veri precetti della pittvra (1§86), a training manual for young
painters—govani, as he referred to them—that is rich in both practical and
theoretical matters, aimed at re invigorating the art of painting .45 Lee even suggested
in passing that the Carracci had “inherited” ideas from Armenini “at a very close
range”. This especially offended Mahon, who published two articles in 1953
addressing “the question of whether or not the Carracci did as a matter of historical
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 367 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 270; transL:
Summerscale 2000, p. 98}).
43. Mahon 1947.
44. Rensselear Lee, Review of Studies in Seicento A rt and Theory by Denis Mahon, A r t Bulletin,
XX XII
I( 1951)
,pp .203-
12.
45. For a summary of the Armenini’s contributions to art theory in general and a discussion ofD e
veriprecetti... see Moshe Barasch, Theories in A rt From Plato to winkelmann (New York: New
York University Press, 1985), pp. 236-41.
Ill
fact profess some theoretical doctrine which can reasonably be termed eclectic.”46
Mahon, like Lee, quite rightly believed that resolving these issues required “the
interpretation of the written sources” of the period: the writings of Faberio, Agucchi,
Lomazzo, and Armenini. I assessed Mahon’s appraisal of Faberio’s and Agucchi’s
texts in chapter two; his low-assessment of Lomazzo’s and Armenini’s books were
equally misinformed. As a “clever” theorist, Lomazzo was “simply concerned with
interpretation and classification” in Mahon’s estimation, and Armenini was a
“frustrated student” who wrote “a handbook of hints for beginners”.47 Nowadays,
opinions about Lomazzo and Armenini run higher, but Mahon was quite effective in
discouraging Carracci specialists from exploring these connections much further.48
Certainly, the key problem with associating the Carracci either with Lomazzo
or Armenini is chronological. Lomazzo’s first book appeared in 1584 and Armenini’s
in 1586, both several years after the Carracci Reform had begun. This was not a
stumbling block in the early 1950 s, when scholars like Mahon were still unsure about
the dating of important early, “reformist” works like Annibale’s Baptism o f Christ and
Pieta w ith Saints of 1585. I t was not until the Mostra dei Carracci in 1956 that
conservators discovered that Annibale had in fact dated those paintings. The issues
o f how, when, or if, the Carracci knew the publication requires far more attention
than I can pay them here, however, I will focus my discussion on chapter six in the
first part (of three) in Armenini’s because the text relates so closely to the studiosi
corsi of the Carracci
46. “N or can I accept the assumptions behind Professor Lee’s reference to ‘the eclectic doctrine
of late sixteenth century theorists,’ a phrase which must inevitably convey the impression
that writers like Lomazzo and Armenini seriously advocated some kind of fully fleaged and
elaborately thought-out system of eclecticism; indeed, Professor Lee describes these two (p.
211) as having ‘counseled the method of eclecticism as part of a program for the improvement
of th e art ofpainting,’ adding that the Carracci ‘inherited this view at very close range.’ For
my part, I am quite unable to recognize under this impressive guise the essentially analytical
approach of that pronounced individualist Lomazzo (something of a perplexed romantic, and
far removed from a synthetist!) and the utilitarian smoothing of the path for young novices of
that well-intentionea but disappointed ex-student Armenini—hardly a potential mentor for a
real master of the stature of Annibale Carracci” (Mahon 1953a, p. 229).
47. Ibid., pp. 316 and 317, respectively.
48. For more recent interpretations of Lomazzo’s contributions see Roberto Ciardi, “Struttura e
significato delle opere teoriche del Lomazzo,” Critica d’arte X II (1965), pp. 20-30; and, X I
II,
1966, pp. 37-44; Robert Klein, La Forma et tintelligible: Ecrits sur la Renaissance et ta rt modeme
(Paris, 1970); and Martin Kemp, “ Equal Excellences’: Lomazzo and the Explanation of
Individual Style in the Visual Arts’, Renaissance Studies I (1987), pp. 1-26. For Armenini see
references listed below.
112
De’ Veriprecetti della p ittvra was published in Ravenna by an obscure printer

named Francesco Tebaldini, whose device appears prominently on the book’s
frontispiece. It is impossible, at this point, even to speculate about Francesco
Tebaldini’s possible relationship to Domenico and Pellegrino Tibaldi, however,
Francesco Tebaldini printed Armenini’s book for one Tomaso Pasini, identified as a
Bolognese “Ubraro” or bookseller. While there can be no doubt that a vital
connection existed between Armenini’s manual and Bologna, one wonders if and
how the Carracci could have had access to the manuscript before its publication.
Agostino may have known Pasini, since booksellers also sold prints.49 Even as a
teenager Agostino associated with the most important people in publishing in
Bologna, having worked for the Societas Typographiae Bonottiensis, a learned
organization bent on promoting fine printing and Bolognese literature.50
De’ Veriprecetti della p ittvra proved to be quite successful; it was reprinted in

1587, one year after it first appeared. The author, who was bom in Faenza, near
Bologna, had settled in Rome in the early 1550s. He traveled for about nine years,
such that he could claim that it was unnecessary for artists to visit the Papal city and
learned about the classical past because “studios and chambers in Milan, Genoa,
Venice, Parma, Florence, Bologna, Pesaro, Urbino, Ravenna, and other minor cities
full of well-formed copies [of ancient statues]”^1 In his book, Armenini addressed
various difficulties young artists might encounter while learning to paint; the lack of
good examples of painting being among the most serious.52 Drawing on the affinities
between painting and poetry, Armenini prescribed travel and copying as a means to
overcome that problem. He argued that painters should see as many paintings as
possible just as it was necessary for “good poets to see many volumes of books”.
Armenini went further to say that this process would help youths recognize and
discriminate among different styles in works: “di conoscere, & dividere diverse maniere
(Topere”. It is clear from Armenini’s remarks that this step in an artist’s development
49. For this aspect of the print market see Landau/Parshall 1994, pp. 95-98.
50. For more on Agostino and the Societas see chapter 6 below.
51. Armenini 1586, p. 43; transl: Olszewski 1977, p. 132.
52. The chapter is entitled: “D egli aturtim enti, cbe si debbono bauere intomo a quelli, cbe sonoper porsi
a fa r quest’arti: Delle gran difftcultd, & faticbe cbe si proua a farsi eccellenti, if quanto si debbe esser
should occur after he had acquired a solid knowledge of disegno. Armenini suggested
that gtovatti produce colored replicas of pictures in the form of small paintings or
using pastels \pastelli\ on paper, or any material for that matter. And that they
reproduce details of the most beautiful compositions and as well as copy complete
images:
Once one has gained a good understanding of design and has

practiced with colors well in order to find the best and truest tints, if
one wishes to proceed toward the goal of perfection, as one should,
one must perforce know and distinguish the different styles of works
painted by the most excellent of our modem masters. From these
works we learn the true art of uniting the mixtures and the various
colors so that they come out pure, brilliant, and pleasing; similarly, we
learn their ways of composing and their treatment of the draperies
which appear in them, so that when we paint our own works they will
be without faults, insofar as our ability permits. And because these
paintings are scattered throughout many countries and cities, it is
necessary to go to different places to consider them in detail at the
cost of much time and hard work. If at all possible, we must try to
imitate \tmitarle\ with paints all or part of the most beautiful things,
whether on panels or on paper. Moreover, we must make copies
[copia] with crayons or other means so that we shall have them when
needed. This is not the only advantage to be derived, for travel in
different countries is help fill in itself in that the student will see other
paintings and strange, exotic, and new things that will broaden his
mind and will give him a greater store of proper material for the
painting of both nudes and all other subjects.53
This account should sound quite familiar by now. Here, again, it is revealing to refer
back to Annibale’s Parmese letters. In the first of the two, written the day after
Annibale arrived in town, he expressed to Ludovico how much he admired the
cupola by Correggio in the Cathedral of Parma because of its clarity of design and
circonfperto, brproueduto circa le cose necessarieper la maluagita de’tempi. Cap 6.” (Armenini 1578, p.
44)-
53. “Condo sia cosa cbe si come e necessario a’boom Poeti veder molti volumi di libri, i quali trattino di
materie diverseper atuto dipoterfar belle, &riguardevoli le loro opere, & compositionscost parimente i
tenuto afare, cbi eper dovere adoperarsi a sufficienza nelle pitture, perciocbi giunti cbe essisono a buona
intelligentia nel dtssegno, br cbe sperimentato cbe banno bene i colori in piii maniere per trovar le tin ti
migliori, br piit vere, gli i forza, volendo proseguire verso il fine delta perfettione; come si deve; di
conoscere, brdividere diverse maniere iopere, dipinte dai pin ecceUenti moderns, dalle quali sipiglia il
bane di urtir le mesticbe, bri coloridiversi insieme, cbe riescbinopuri,fiammeggianti, brpiacevolt & da se
paimente prendere i modide’lor compommenti, brabigliamenti, cbe sono sparst in quelle, acdocbi poi nel
fa r le sue rimangpno senza difetti,per quanto si estendono leforze loro: E tpercbe quests son[o] sparse in
piupaesi& Cittd, gli i necessario di andarli conpiit tempo, br con stenti a minuto considerarle, b s e g lii
possibileprovarsi ad imitarle con i colori, 0 in tavolette, 0 in carte, 0 tutte, bparte le cosepiit belle brconi
pastelli, 0 con altra materia bavema copia per poter fervirfene poi me lor bisogpi: ne men gli i do
gioueuole in questofo b ma molts asssto ancora acquistano netdiscorrert de’paesi cb’ei farmo, perciocbi
vengano vedendo dsverfe altra dipinture, i f modistravaganti di cose capncctose, br e move, per le quali
se g fi afficurapits la mete, &si riempie dip iii bonorata materie, &pergfignudi, brper la coda delte cofi
universal!, ne qui d vale il dire cbe siano bafteuoli daper tutto le cose naturali... ifbid, p. 48-50).
n4
faithfulness of colon “I couldn’t help going immediately to see the great cupola,
which so many times you commended to me, and still I remained stupefied, seeing
such a great machine, everything seen so clearly from bottom to top with exactness,
but at the same time with such judgement [giudizio], with such grace [grazta], with a
coloring that is so true to life...”54 Annibale’s reactions to the colors Correggio used
presage Armenini’s advice that young painters travel and make in order to grasp how
various masters used colori. In the same sense, Malvasia stated that the drawings
Ludovico made during his studioso corso served a didactic purpose, exposing Annibale
and Agostino to the styles of Correggio, Titian, and Veronese. But the drawn copies
could not teach them the true effect of their extraordinary color, which could only be
appreciated by seeing the works themselves .55 It would appear that the Carracci left
Bologna having mastered the technical challenges of painting, such as those
associated with disegno (foreshortening and the representation of the figure), and
knew well methods for making art. They were also familiar with what certain
paintings looked like. But not even Ludovico’s “disegni” after Titian, Veronese, and
Correggio could convey to his cousins how artists actually handled paint both in
terms of its application and the coloristic effects of pigment. Significandy, Malvasia
used the term “'modi [lit.: m o d e s rather than “maniere [lit.: manners}” (both of which
could be translated as meaning “style”), to describe what Agostino and Annibale had
gained from Ludovico’s copies.
In a remarkable letter that Federico Zuccaro sent to Ludovico Carracci some

time between 1604 and 1609/10^ Federico referred to a certain “Armenini”.57
54 Lost letter dated April 18, 1580 from Annibale Carracci in Parma to Ludovico Carracci in
Bologna (transc. in Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 365 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, pp. 268-69; transL:
55. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 365 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 268; transl: Summerscale 1995, p. 152).
56. For the dating of the letter see Perini 1990, {4). 49-50.
57. uD i questi giom i fu qui a trovarm certo Armenini, assai garbato giovane ed assai curiosodeWarte
nostra, il quale mi due cbe viaggia per suo diporto e per vedere le belle cose di pittura che sono in
Lombardta; il quale miba detto rmracoU di voi e de’ vostri cugini. E perche venne a salutarmi da parte
vostra, iogli bo usato tutte le maggiori cortesie cbe bo saputo, ed egli se ne mostro contentissimo. Egli ba
veduto Milano, dove non fu contento del dipirtigere modemo, e mi contb certo accidente di un giovane
pittore e delriccosignore cbe lofalavorare in suopalazzo, cbe quando jbssero vere nonfarebbero troppo
onore n i alTuno ne alTaltro. Ma qual e quella cittd cbe non abbia pittori da poco e signori riccbi ed
imoranti?Edio viso ben dire cbe tn quella cittd si trovano sufficientissimipittori, e mold signori cbe li
famto lavorare e li ricompensano a seconda dei loro meriti.
Having just arrived in Pavia from a trip to Milan, Piacenza, Ferrara, and Parma,
Zuccaro explained to Ludovico that he had seen many wonderful works, including
“miracoir by Ludovico himself and by his “cugmF. These, Zuccaro commended,
together with the paintings of Correggio and Parmigianino, as part of the ubelle cose di
pittura che sono in Lombardia”. It is clear that Zuccaro knew Ludovico well and was
inspired to write the painter about the experience out of respect and admiration.
O ne could only imagine that Zuccaro reflected on those days in Florence when
Ludovico studied the “belle cose” of Florence only to leave, for good, and head north.
For Faberio, Agucchi, and Malvasia, the studioso corsi of the Carracci was a turning
point in their careers owing to the lasting impression that Venetian and Parmese art
had made on the young artists. Ludovico and his cousins encouraged others to do
the same; in 1583 Giovanni Battista Bonconti went “a Parma” to see “le cose del
Correggio, e sopra studiarvF according to his father’s ledger.58 Indeed, just as the
Carracci lead the incamminati along the path of reform, so, too, were the artists
instrumental in helping their academicians find the way north to Parma.
M i diceva cbefacilmente voi verrete a Piacenza per alcune opere d i grande importanza, onde se cid
accadesse avanti cbe termini fanno, sarei ad aboracciarvi ea a passare alcunt giomi con voi. Lo
credereste? Sono stato a Parma senza vedere le cose del Correggio e del Parmigianino. A rrival cb’era
quasi notte, epercbe era accompagnato con unfamiglio del ConteBorromeo, cbe miavea levato a Ferrara
e voleva arrivare in due giom i a Pavia, bo dovutofarmi violenza abartire in sulfar del giomo. V i dico
perb cbefacdopenitenza di costgran peccato, e non sard contentofincbe non I’abbia espiato.
Ho veduto mold edifsci ed alcuru.picture del vostro Bolognese, cbe qui bafatto grandissimafortuna, ed il
collegio dove io lavoro sard unperpetuo tesdmonio della munificenza del carainale Carlo Borromeo, cbe
ora si trattadi santificare, e delpoco gtudizio delFarcbitetto, cbe tutto sagrificb ad uno stravagante huso,
senza darsi bensiero del comodo intemo. Ho veduto nelpalazzo delTarcivescovo di Milano una scudenia
di quest’arcbitetto, cbe potrebbe essere ridotta ad elegantissimo tembio, come fedificio in cul m i trovo ba
pits rispetto di regpa, cbe di cosaper alimentarvi una quarantina di giovani studenti. Ebbe per altro a
contrastare con Mcurni volenti arcbitetti, cbe lo convinsero di errore in non so quali cose, ma egli non si
lascio sovercbiare e vinse il partita in faccia al preposti alia fabbrica del Duomo di Milano, percbe
nissuno ardiva di opporsi a chi aveva I’aperta protezione del Cardinale. Iddio gliela mandi sempre
buona.
State bene, e credetemi sempre appareccbiato ad ogni vostro volere. Pavia, 7 agosto {1604-1609?}”
(Giovanni Gaetano Bottari ana Stefano Ticozzi, Raccolta di lettere sulla pittura, scukura ed
arcbitettura scritte da’piit celebripersonaggidei secoli XV, XVI, e XVll,pubblicata da M. Gio. Bottari, e
contmuatajmo ai nostri giomi ad Stefano Ticozzi, vol. 7 (Milano: G. Silvestri, 1822-25), pp. 516-19.
In addition see Roberto Longhi, Pinacotbeca I (1928-29), pp. 30 and 320; and Mahon 1947, £p. 80-
81, where Mahon dismissed the document as a “valueless” forgery perhaps by the 1 icozzi
himself.
58. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 573 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, pp. 404-405).
Ch a pte r s ix
P r e s s in g M a t t e r s :
A g o s t in o ’s E a r l y E n g r a v in g s
...Agostino did not become so absorbed in engraving that he did not also want
to play a role as the third rival in painting. To this end, he would sometimes
take up his palette and set to work at the easel, with a canvas in front of him,
seeking to prove how much he had learned by engraving the works of the
best masters from all the different schools. (Carlo Cesare Malvasia)1
gostino is the only Carracci whose activities during the 1570s have been
A studied in-depth and have been relatively well documented in the modem
literature. Faberio’s orazione contains authoritative information about his
training although he never mentioned, by name, a single engraving by Agostino, nor
did he discuss his graphic activities in depth, believing, instead, that Agostino’s
greatest works •were executed with a brush, not a burin. Faberio stressed the
importance o f the painter, architect, and printmaker Domenico Tibaldi in Agostino’s
early development as a graphic artist. Tibaldi discovered and honed the boy’s
talents, arranging “to have him work under him for a long period of time, [and\
getting a lot of credit for the great number of engraved plates he asked him to
make”.2 It is telling that Agostino’s epitaph, at one time in the Cathedral of Parma,
described him as a painter and poet but not a printmaker. After all, his printed
oeuvre had a much larger audience than his paintings. Faberio even claimed that
Agostino “was known and admired in very many places beyond the Alps.”3
Unfortunately, due to losses and the lack of research into Agostino’s other
activities, little can now be said about his pictures; indeed most art historians
1. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 388 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 284; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 140).
2. Faberio in Bologna 1603, p. 22 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 427 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 307;
transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 200D.
3. Ibid., p. 30 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 426 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 306; transl:
Il6
ii7
generally familiar with the period could name only a few by him .4 He was, however, a
splendid young painter, according to Faberio, who discussed two works that
Agostino had made “as a boy” sometime before the Carracci completed the Jason
cycle in 1584. Neither survives but some sense of what they looked like can be
gleaned from the published account:
The first instance was on the occasion of his [Agostino’s] first
commission to paint in fresco, when he painted a dappled gray horse
for the Ronchi family in Crevalcore in such a masterful way that
another horse took it for a live horse and started to neigh, ana after
making several approaches to it in order to sniff it and turned and gave
it a couple of kicks with its hind legs, knocking down a large part of
the fresco. He gave a second proof of his powers when, like
Parrhasius, he fooled a fine and experienced painter with a picture of
the flayed and gutted carcass of a lamb, which this painter approached
to examine ana touch with his hands w hilepraising how fat and tasty it
looked, only to discover his mistake, at which he was so overcome with
amazement that he stared at it. But it would take too long for me to
enumerate all the excellent and marvelous things he made as nature’s
imitator and rival; the few instances I have related should be sufficient
proof of the quality of the rest .5
T he description is significant in several respects. It demonstrates that

Agostino painted frescoes, apparently outdoors, when he was quite young and that he
employed an illusionistic and naturalistic style comparable to his Jupiter (fig. 91) in
the Sala di Giasone. In all likelihood Agostino painted the horse in the Villa Caprara,
which the Ronchi family had built earlier in the sixteenth century in the town of
Crevalcore, located northeast of Modena near Cento.6 In this respect, another
fascinating reference is worth mentioning. It appears in the post-mortem inventory
of a Bolognese nobleman named Antonio Francesco Facci. According to the
document of 1658 the exterior o f his palazzo was “dipinta />{er}. mano di Agostino
Carracci”.7 While this citation might seem spurious, the notary who drafted it was
4. For Agostino’s paintings see Ostrow 1966; and Clovis Whitfield, “The Landscapes of Agostino
Carracci: Reflexions on His Role in the Carracci School,’’ in Actes 1988, pp. 73-95.
5. Faberio in Bologna 1603, pp. 39-40 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, pp. 430-31 {Malvasia ed. i84r, voL
1, pp. 309-10; transl: Summerscale 2000, pp. 205-206D.
6. For the villa Caprara see, Emilia Romagna. Guida tfItalia (Touring Club Italiano), Milan, 1991, p.
248. For Ronchi see Francesco Panini, Cromca della Cittd di Modena, edited by Rolando Bussi and
Roberto Montagnani (Modena: Panini, T987), pp. 159 and 168.
7. ASB, Notarile-Notaio Marco Carracci, Protocollo B 1655-1659, July 17,1658, folios j 6t-< )xv (17 pp.
total): uUna casa grande nobile murata cupata, tasselata e balcbionata dipinta p. mano di Agostmo
Carracci con cave cantine pozzo posta in Bologna sotto la parrocbia di S. Pietro Maggiore rinconttv alia
n8
Marco Carracci, Carlo Carracci’s great grandson, whose authority on such matters
deserves further investigation. As for the deceptive painting of a gutted lamb, one
can only say that it brings to mind the vividly rendered cuts of meat in the Butcher’s
Shop (fig. 40), which scholars associate with Annibale’s particular naturalism. All the
evidence suggests that prior to frescoing the Sala di Giasone with Ludovico and
Annibale, Agostino was not associated directly with Ludovico’s workshop. Instead
he worked under contract for print publishers and occasionally made paintings while
working for Domenico Tibaldi.
AGOSTINO IN PRINT
n spite of our fragmentary knowledge of Agostino’s paintings, or perhaps
I because of it, print enthusiasts have long acknowledged him as Italy’s premier
engraver at the close of the sixteenth century. Malvasia not only expanded
Faberio’s account gready, using documents, the testimony of those who had an
historical or a personal knowledge of the artist’s career, and information adduced
from Agostino’s prints; he also invented the system for cataloging prints used today.
Although, for the most part, the Felsina is a history o f painters and painting, it also
provides a great wealth o f untapped information about the attribution, chronology,
production, marketing, and collecting of prints during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Prints specialists are probably familiar with the book above
all for the chapter containing the vita of Marcantonio Raimondi (1470/82-1527/34) and
the earliest catalogue raisonne o f his engravings.® Like Raimondi’s first biographer,
Giorgio Vasari, Malvasia believed that prints were the most effective way to promote
compositions by great Italian masters. For this reason, Malvasia’s chapter on
Raimondi also contains exhaustive catalogues of prints by other bohgnesi such as
Giulio Bonasone, Bartolomeo Passerotti, each of the Carracci, Francesco Brizio, and
Guido Reni. T he lists include both autograph and reproductive prints, with the
latter types under the subheading “Intagliate da altrT in each catalogue.
More than a dozen catalogues of prints by the Carracci have been published
since the Seicento. Despite such seemingly exhaustive study, scholars have
M ad A Galiera, conftna dalla parte cfavante la via pubblica di galiera da una banda li SSP Gbiselardi
etdalfaltra li SSJ Scolaetoltre confine” (cited in Morselli 1997, p. 257, under inv. no. 344).
ii9
overlooked completely or seriously neglected at least three important sources, each
of which deserves greater attention than I can give them here. Nowhere in the
literature is mention made of John Evelyn’s book Sculptura: or the History, and A rt o f
Chalcography and Engraving on Copper published in London in 1662. It contains the
first discussion of Agostino’s and Annibale’s prints in English. 9 Evelyn thought that
Agostino and Annibale were “exquisite Engravers”, but he viewed their prints as
serving different functions. W hile Agostino’s engravings “communicated” designs
by famous painters (in other words, Agostino reproduced other artist’s works),
Annibale’s demonstrated his own skills as a designer, being original in their
conception. Other early writers expressed similar views, seeing Agostino’s prints as
illustrative and his brother as inventive. Even more obscure is a Bolognese
manuscript of 1701 by Ludovico Laurenti, “Libro delle Stampe non descritte nella
Felsina Pittrice.”10 As its title indicates, Laurenti’s work contains citations of prints
that Malvasia overlooked; and, unbeknownst to scholars, his discoveries were
integrated into the second edition of the Felsina. The greatest untapped reference
on prints available to Old M aster specialists is, however, a massive manuscript,
“Notes manuscrites sur les peintres et les graveurs” by Pierre Jean Mariette (1740-
8. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, pp. 63-130 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, pp. 57-106; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p.
130).
9. “Finally, towards the end of this Century, appeared Augustino, and Annibal Carracci most rare
Painters and exquisite Engravers; for indeed when these to [sic] Arts go together, then it is, and
then only, that we may expect to see the utmost efforts and excellency of the Bolino: amongst
the famous pieces communicated to us by these Master’s, we may esteem the Monelli, Aineas of
Barrocbio’s invention, and S. Hierom. After Tintoret the large and famous Crucifix of three sheets
in S. Roccos school which so ravished the Painter: Mercury and the Graces, Sapientia, Pax,
Abundantia chasing Mars away; the Ecce homo of Correggio, S. Francis of Cavalier Vanni: a Venus
in little with a Satyr, and some other nudities with something a too, luxurious Graver: S.
Giustina’s Martyrdom o f Paulo Veroneses, S. Catherine, and that renown’d S. Hierom of Correggio;
Also in AquaJortis his, brother Hannibal etched another Venus; the Woman of Samaria at the
well, a Christ in little, and a Madonna with the Bambino and S. John-, The famous S. Rocb and the
spiteful, coronation with thom es:The Cbristus mortuus bewailed by the devout sex, the original
painting whereof hangs in the D[uke]. of Parmas Palace at Caprartola, and is in the Cut one of
the tenderst and rarest things that can be imagined, abating th e vileness of the Plate, which
was most unfortunately chosen, though through that accident, rendred inimitable, and never to
be counterfeited: There is likewise nis Magdalen and a Landskip touch'd with the Graver a
little; likewise a sylenus, all of them incomparably design’d, nor indeed, did any of the four
celebrated Artists exceed the Carraccis, especially Hannibal, for the noblenesse and freedom of
his postures, bodies and limbs, which he express’d in greatest perfection; We may not omit the
Purification which he grav’d, and Villamena made in large, nor the S. Anthony, the Original
whereof is in the Palace of Signior Francisco della Vinga at Venice, nor lastly the Resurection and
the two Canaculas” (John Evelyn, Sculptura: or the History, and A rt o fChalcography and Engraving on
Copper [London: G. Beedle, 1662], pp. 53-55).
10. Biblioteca Universitaria, Bologna, MS. 889, no. 3. See Chvostal 2002.
120
1770) in the Bibliotheque nationale, Paris.11 Scholars have long been familiar with
Mariette’s “Notes”—they formed the basis for Adam von Bartsch’s Lepeintre graveur
(1802-21)—however, few historians have consulted the original text, which is best
known in a much-abridged version published in Paris in the mid-nineteenth
century.12
Diana DeGrazia Bohlin’s Prints and Related Drawings by the Carracci Family
(1979) is the definitive study on the subject.^ She confidently attributed to Agostino
two-hundred-twenty-five prints and some twenty-three “questionable” ones in the
revised, Italian edition (1984) of her catalogue, which she had originally prepared for
an exhibition at the National Gallery, Washington. More recently, Babette Bohn
shifted those numbers slightly in her volume on Agostino in the Illustrated Bartscb
series, reducing the total to two-hundred-twenty autograph and twenty-five
questionable works.x4 Although I believe that a significant number of the prints that
DeGrazia, Bohn, and others accepted as autograph are not by Agostino while other
questionable and rejected engraving are, their invaluable catalogues generally provide
a good idea of the artist’s printmaking activities, information about the various states
of prints, bibliography details, and the number of extant impressions. An inherent
flaw of such catalogues is that they focus more intensely on individual prints than
considering the larger picture, a task I hope to undertake, in part, here.
11. Pierre Jean Mariette, “Notes manuscrites sur les peintres et les graveurs”, unpublished
manuscript [1740-1770}, Bibliothfeque nationale, Paris. A complete version of the manuscript on
microfilm is also available in the Fine Arts Library at Harvard University. For an excellent
discussion of the manuscript see Cambridge 1992, pp. 11-55.
12. Mariette, Abecedario de P. J. M ariette et autres notes inedites de cet amateur sur les arts et les artists.
Ouvrage public eTapres les manuscrits autograpbes conserves au cabinet des estampes de la Bibliotheque
impertale, et armote par mm. Pb. de Cbennevteres et A . de Montaiglon (Archives de fart franfais), eds.
Philippe de Chennevieres and Anatole de Montaiglon, 6 vols. (Paris: J. B. Dumoulin, 1851/53-
1859/00). A difficult-to-read facsimile of some of Mariette’s notes on Italian artists (including
the Carracci) was published in a limited edition in 1969 under the title Les Grandspeintres Notices
biograpbiques et catalogues des oeuvres reproduites bar la gravure, XVle-XVlIe siecle Spar] P.-J. M ariette.
Pref. by Daniel Wilaenstein and biographical articles on M ariette by Roger-Armand W eigert
and Gerald Burdon (Paris: Les Beaux-Arts, Edition d’etudes e t de documents, 1969.
13. Washington 1979. For reviews of the publication see Ann Marie Logan, Arte Lombardia L V II
I-
LI
X , (1981), pp. 113-14; John T. Paoletti, Visual Resources I (1980/81), pp. 232-35; John Spike,
Burlington Magazine C X XI(1979), pp. 526-27; and Nancy Ward Neilson, Master Drawings X VII
6980), pp. 51-52.
14. Babette Bohn, The Illustrated Bartscb 39; Commentary Part 1. Agostino Carracci (New York: W alter
L. Strauss, 1995). For a review of the publication see D. Stephen Pepper, Print £>yarterly X V II
I
(2000), pp. 67-72.
121
Over the past twenty-five years, scholars have studied Agostino’s prints with
intensity. One would assume, therefore, that the field has been thoroughly plowed
and offers little prospects for fertile new growth and discussion. Yet, over the course
of my research, I have made several discoveries, some of which I have shared with
scholars, who have been able to integrate them into their own studies and have
gratefully acknowledge my contributions. Babette Bohn, for instance, published the
Adoration o f the Most Holy Name o f God (fig. 41), which Agostino had made for the
Venetian confraternity, ca. 1587 (although Bohn believed the print dated to ca.
1582).J5 1 discovered the large engraving (now known in only two impressions, each a
different state) among the Carracci prints in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna.
Attributing the print’s design to Agostino was fairly easy because a well-known
preparatory drawing for the central composition is in the Louvre (fig. 42). For years,
scholars associated the drawing with another print (B.XVII.97.108; fig. 43) of much
lower quality and made for the same confraternity, which Malvasia first attributed to
Agostino in the Felsina.16 T he biographer probably assumed that Agostino was
responsible for that print because it is dated 1582 (like Agostino’s autograph
Venetian engravings) and bears the address of Luca Bertelli, one of his Venetian
publishers at the time. But as Ann Sutherland Harris recently noted, Agostino’s
authorship of the earlier print is doubtful and he may not have actually engraved the
second version himself.1? Malvasia probably knew that Agostino had made a print
for the organization, but attributed the wrong one to him, based on the misleading
inscriptions and not knowing both versions.
Why, for instance, did Agostino make prints when other family members
prospered as painters? How do his engravings compare to prints by Annibale,
Ludovico, and other printmakers? Is there a relationship between Agostino’s graphic
style and the demands of the art market? And what role did publishers play in his
early career? Viewing Agostino’s engravings as the byproducts of a complex print
15. See Bohn 1995, p. 115, no. 3901.095a; and Ann Sutherland Harris, “Agostino Carracci’s Inventions:
Pen-and-ink Studies, 1582-1602,” Master Drawings X X X V III (2000), pp. 406-408. I agree with
Harris that the print dates to ca. 1587, rather than pre-dating another version of 1582. I also
concur with her that Agostino may not have been responsible for the earlier engraving and
designed but did not engrave the later print himself. I also agree with Harris that Bohn’s first
state (Bologna) is, in fact, the second state; and that first state is in Paris.
16. See Washington 1979, pp. 194-95,cat- no-100, for a complete bibliography.
market is something of an anathema, since scholars see them as symbols of the
Carracci Reform and reflections of the trio’s personal tastes. They assume that
Agostino reproduced works such as Venetian and Parmese paintings because he, his
brother, and cousin appreciated them as prototypes and wished to popularize them
among follow painters as models worthy of emulation. But this idea cannot be
sustained when scrutinized within the context of print publishing and the market at
large. Before turning to these issues, it is necessary to review aspects of Agostino’s
early career and training with Domenico Tibaldi.
EARLY STATES
cholars believe that Agostino spent the better part of the 1570s studying with
S Prospero Fontana and then the painter Bartolomeo Passerotti. They also
assume that he entered Tibaldi’s studio as an apprentice in 1578 or 1579.
Stephen Ostrow first proposed this chronology based on a portrait drawing he
ascribed to Agostino that carries an inscription dated 1577 identifying the sitter as
Tiburzio Passerotti, Bartolomeo Passerotti’s son.18 Ostrow assumed, therefore, that
Agostino was in Passerotti’s studio in 1577, when he made the drawing, and was not
yet involved with Tibaldi. DeGrazia then discovered Tibaldi’s address on Agostino’s
Adoration o f the Magi (B.XVIIL42.11, 2nd state), of 1579, which seemed to confirm this
chronology. W hen the drawing o f Tibaldi was exhibited in Oxford in 1996, several
scholars, including DeGrazia, rejected the attribution to Agostino but only after she
and Bohn had interpreted Agostino’s oeuvre according to a false premise.^
There can be no doubt that Agostino’s first contact with Tibaldi was much
earlier than scholars now believe. Faberio stated that Agostino had left Fontana’s
tutelage early on and that his association with Tibaldi lasted “for a long tim e”.20
Because Tibaldi died either on January 2,1582 or sometime in 1583, the date scholars
17. Sutherland Harris 2000, p. 408.
18. Ostrow 1966, voL 1, pp. 109-13, and 563, fig. 1.
19. See DeGrazia 1998, p. 298, under no. 20, who wrote; “I see no reason to give this drawing to
Agostino, with whose draftsmanship it has little in common; its traditional attribution to
[Bartolomeo] Passerotti should be retained.” DeGrazia failed to mention that she too had
previously accepted the drawing as by Agostino and believed that it suggested his presence in
Passerotti’s workshop in 1577.
20. Faberio 1603, p. 22 (repr. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 427 [Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 307]).
123
presently cite, Agostino must have engraved the Adoration o f the M agi toward the end
of his involvement with Tibaldi, not the beginning. Faberio reported too that
Agostino had produced many works for Tibaldi that were “o f such great beauty that
they competed for pride o f place with those of the engravers reputed to be the best
masters.”21 Malvasia stated that Agostino willingly left his employer, who was,
needless to say, still alive, “without any ill feeling and even on the understanding that
he would always favor Tibaldi if he offered contracts on the same terms as other to
prints his works”.22 Conflicting reports also exist about the date of Tibaldi’s death,
although only an examination o f archival documents mentioned in publications from
the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries can resolve the issue.23 Malvasia was
quite specific about Agostino’s relationship with Tibaldi. “Agostino judged that he
would do well to come to an argument with him \Tibaldi\” Malvasia wrote, “that would
include a monthly allowance [mensuale provisioned, so that free of worries and
distractions, he would be able to devote himself single-mindedly to his own work to
perfect his skill in drawing.’>24 Clearly, Agostino worked fo r Tibaldi and was not his
student, as DeGrazia and others have stated.2* Tibaldi was certainty in the position
21. Ibid., transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 200.
23. Citing the artist’s epitaph in the Chiesa de’ RR. PP. Zoccolanti (known as SS. Annunziata),
Malvasia stated that Tibaldi died in 1583 (Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 200 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p.
158]). The eighteenth-century historian Giampietro Zanotti argued that Malvasia was mistaken
and that the artist’s death occured on January 2,1382, the actuafyear found on his tombstone and
the specific dated recorded in the libri de morti-. “Sicchfe da questo monumento {Tibaldi’s
ej>itaph)s\ rileva esser la nascita di Domenico nel 1339. cioe 12. anni solamente dopo quella di
Pellegrino. La Felsina alle dette pag. 200. per dimostrare che questa iscrizione si concilia per
1’appunto con detta fede battesimale fa credere che dove dice OBIIT. M. D. LXXXII. si legga
MORTWS. ANNO D. 1583. ma la verity si e che il 1582. viene confermato non solo da’ libri ae’
Morti della parrochia di S. Maria Ceriola, che dicono 2. gennajo 1582. mori M. Domenico Tibaldi
arcbitetto della fabbrica di S. Pietro sepolto alia Nunciata, ma anche dal Masini nella Tavola de’
Pittori compresa, come si b detto, nella sua Bologna Perlustratapag. 618” (G. Zanotti, Le pitture di
Pellegrino Tibaldi e di Niccolo A bbati esistenti nelT Instituto ai Bologna, descritte et illustrate da
Giampietro Zanotti, Venice, 1756). Michelangelo Gualandi, who made no mention of Zanotti’s
oppions, cited other documents placing the artist’s death in 1383. The first was Tibaldi’s will
supposedly dated October 16,1382 and the second was the libri of the parish of S. Marino: ‘“1583.
Fu sepolto Domenico Tibaldi architetto della fabbrica di S. Pietro, cart 3. libri della parocchia che
S. Marino.’ (Intendi che Domenico essendo morto sotto 1’ indicata parocchia viene in quei libri
accennata essere stato sepolto, quantunque per l’indicata inscrizione siaprovato che riposi nella
chiesa dell’ Annunzista [rot. in Malvasia Malvasia ed. 1841, p. 164]).” But elsewhere, Gualandi
stated that the artist’s will was dated 1583, adding more to the confusion.
24. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 362 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 266; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 89).
23. Washington 1979, p. 34; see also Bohn 1996, p. 2
124
to hire Agostino after October 22,1571, when he joined the consiglio of the Company
of painters.26
A review of Tibaldi’s printed oeuvre helps to clarify Agostino’s role in Tibaldi’s

business. Malvasia cataloged only three engravings by Tibaldi, one of which is dated
1566 and another 1570.27 He noted also in his vita of Tibaldi that the artist rarely
signed his prints, making identification of them very difficult.28 Bartsch attributed
to Tibaldi six more engravings, all of which are stylistically consistent, and five that
are signed. Two bear dates of 1570 and 1572 respectively.^ DeGrazia assigned a
half-dozen others to Domenico’s oeuvre of which one is ambiguously monogrammed
either F t or TF and is dated 1575 whilst the remaining additions are unsigned and
undated.3° To this group Bohn suggested that four more (unsigned) prints were by
Tibaldi as well as two questionable engravings, making for a grand total of nineteen
“autograph” engravings and two possible attributions. Tibaldi’s style can be
described at best as “generic” because it closely resembles the manner numerous
engravers used during the late sixteenth century. The Madonna and Child
(B.XVII.6241), formerly ascribed to Agostino, is a case in point. DeGrazia described it
as characteristic of Tibaldi and as “known in only one impression”. In fact the work
is from a series of relatively common prints by Maarten de Vos (1532-1603), dated
1592.31 Others ascribed to Tibaldi have “Northern” traits and may well be by
Netherlandish artists whose oeuvres are not well known to Italianists. That said,
26. “Ecco ora i Documenti che intorno a Domenico Tibaldi, abbiamo raccolti nell’ arcbivio dell’antico
reggimento di Bologna. 'Partitorum lib. N. 23. a 1569. ad 1575. pag. 54. verso, 1571. 22. Octobris = (in
margme) Surrog.o in Cons. Pictorii Dem.ci Tibaldi Pictoris = Ex tribus k Massario et hominibus
consilij Societatis Boa electis et senatui propositis et exibitis, elegerunt et surrogarunt per
suffr. 30. in locum vacantem in consilio dictae societatis per obitum lo. Fran.ci Bettj pictoris,
Dominicum Tbebaldum, pictorem ut pote habilem et idoneum, et qualitates necessarius
habentem, cum honoribus, oneribus, emolumentis, et aliis debids et consuetis. Mandantes ipsum
b dicds Massario et hominibus consilij praedicd ad hmoi locum recipi et admitd. Contrarijs
etc.’” (rpt. in Malvasia Malvasia ed. 1841, p. 164)
27. For Malvasia’s list of Domenico’s prints see Malvasia 1678, voL 1, pp. 82-83 (Malvasia ed. 1841,
vol. 1, pp. 69-70 and 159).
28. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 200 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 159).
29. Bartsch 1802-1821, vol. 18, pp. 12-17,nos-1*9-
30. Washington 1979, pp. 418-21, cat. nos. R 54-R 59, ill. (1984 ed., pp. 221-23, cat- nos- R 54-R 59, pis.
315-320). The monogrammed print is cat. no. R 55.
125
judging from signed and dated examples alone, the duration of Tibaldi’s career as a
printmaker seems to have been limited to a relatively brief period lasting
approximately nine years, from 1566 until 1575.
Apparently all of the Agostino’s prints dating from the seventies were made
under Tibaldi’s supervision. T hey generally fall into two categories that date from the
first and latter half of the decade, respectively: small, inexpensive engravings based,
it seems, on Agostino’s own designs; and large reproductive prints of the type
Tibaldi himself had made. It appears that around 1575, just when Agostino began to
produce reproductive prints o f the type that Tibaldi himself fashioned, Tibaldi’s
printmaking activities diminished and his architectural duties increased. The master
employed Agostino in order to continue his profitable publishing business.
T he earliest print now attributed to Agostino is in the second edition o f the

Symbolicarvm qvestionvm by Achille Bocchi (1488-1562), initially published in 1574,
nineteen years after the first edition (i 555).32 It is an engraved copy of a woodcut
found by Giulio Bonasone in the first edition showing Bocchi’s emblem: the skull of
an ox (B.XVIII.148.257, fig. 44).33 The first edition originally contained some one-
hundred-fifty-one engraved emblems or symbolf, also by Bonasone, that wore badly
during the first pressing. Malvasia noted that Agostino retouched many of the spent
plates .34 H e actually replaced symbols xxxvi (Learned A rt Emulates Nature)35 and
ciiii (August Hopeji6 and recut all the other emblems, “deepening the shadows with
lines perpendicular to Bonasone’s”, in Ruth Mortimer’s word’s; he “also added a
dotted background to Bocchi’s portrait”.37 The whole project was an important job
31. See Carl Schuckman, Hollstein’s Dutch & Flemish Etching?, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700
(Maarten de Vos), vol. 44 (text), p. 176, cat. no. 790, ill.
32. The dedication page of the second edition is dated August 28,1574.
33. See Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, pp. 102 and 360 (ed. 1814, vol. 1, pp. 84 and 266); Washington 1979, p.74-
73, cat. no. 1, ill. (1984 ed, p. 73, cat. no. 1, pL 28); Bohn 1995, pp. 5-6, no. 3901.001.
3$. See Ruth Mortimer, Harvard College Library Department o fPrinting and Graphic ArtsCatalogue o f
Books and Manuscripts. Part. II: Italian 16th-Century Books (Cambridge, MA; Harvard University
Press, 1974), p. 106, under no. 77; and Bohn 1993, p. 7, no. 3901.002, ill.
36. See Bohn 1993, p. 8, no. 3901.003, ilL
37. Mortimer 1974, p. 106, under no. 77.
126
that must have taken the skills of an experienced printmaker. Indeed, the members
of the Societas Typographiae Bonnoniensis, an organization established in 1572,
sponsored the reprinting of Bocchi’s book. They “were men of letters and of
position in the city of Bologna” who were devoted to “fine printing and accurate
texts”, according to Mortimer, and this was their inaugural publication.38 The
organization must have been veiy pleased with Agostino’s work because they
commissioned from him a large frontispiece (not in Bartsch) for another one of their
publications, a book dated 1573 by Carlo Ruini (ca. 1530-1598), a Bolognese senator
(fig. 45).39 Agostino, therefore, must have had contact with this learned circle of
publishing enthusiasts, including the society’s printer, Giovanni Rossi (d. 1595), who
published Carlo Carracci’s Modo deldividere Valluvioni... in 1579.4°
Agostino’s first signed and dated prints are thought to date from 1576, when
he was eighteen or nineteen years old. These are the Holy Family (not in Bartsch)
after an engraving designed by Marcantonio Raimondi (fig. 46) and the Holy Family
with Saints Catherine o f Alexandria and John the Baptist (B.XVIII.86.94) after Giovanni
Battista Ramenghi (called Bagnacavallo Junior [i52i-i6oi]).41 As independent,
reproductive works, they represent a popular category of prints that Agostino
devoted himself to over the subsequent years. But serious questions exist about
Agostino’s activities during the first half of the 1570s. H e seems to have been much
more productive, and at an earlier date, than scholars presendy believe. Jean-Pierre
Mariette attributed to Agostino several prints that are no longer known nor are they
mentioned in the modem literature. Mariette’s annotations state that Agostino
engraved at least two repetitions of Tibaldi’s prints. Listed under the year 1574 in
38. Ibid.
39. Engraving, 370 x 235 ram. See Malvasia Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 77, n. 2 (originally a marginal
note that Malvasia wrote in his personal copy of the Felsina pittrtce [BCB MS 1729, vol. 1, p. 92D;
Zapperi 1989, pp. 13 and 22, a 21; Bohn 1995, pp. 12-13, no- 3901.005, ill. (as probably after a design
by Prospero Fontana).
40. The humanist Carlo Sigonio (1523-1584), a professor at the University of Bologna; Senator
Camillo Paleotti, brother of the religious reformer Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti; and Francesco
Bolognetti were also members of the organization. See Anna Sorbelli, “Carlo Sigonio e la
Societi tipografia bolognese,” La bibliografia XXIII, 1921-22, pp. 95-105. An inscription on the
title page of Carlo Carracci’s book reads: IN BOLOGNA PER GIO. ROSSI MDLXXIX. / Con
licentta ae’Superiori. The Bolognese book publisher Alessandro Benacci published the second
edition in 1580 as well as Carlo? Dvbitatiom davtore incerta..., Bologna, 1580.
41. Heinecken says “da Gio. battista Bagnacavallo 1576. La mezza figura di Maria Vergine dipinta
sotto un Portico presso la porta laterale del Sig. Sentatore Ratta di Bologna”. voL 1, p. 234,
127
Mariette’s manuscript is a copy of Tibaldi’s print after Parmigianino’s Madonna o f the

Rose, signed “Agu.fe.”.*2 Another entry, which reads: “Copie du repos en Egypte gr. pred.
en 1576 Agu. fe .” presumably refers to a copy Agostino had made after Tibaldi’s
engraving of the subject (B.XVIII.12.1). In addition Mariette cited a Resurrection dated
1575 and signed: “Augustino C re”. Two additional engravings, the Parable o f the D evil
Sowing Tares in the Field and a. Dog, can be dated to Agostino’s adolescence based on
stylistic and technical grounds even though some scholars place them about 1580.43
Malvasia attributed to Agostino a number of prints that he believed dated

before 1574. In recent decades, experts have rejected some of them and dated
others later in the artist’s career, presenting a very different impression of the state of
Agostino’s early activities. Because some of the engravings relate to works by Tibaldi,
they confirm that Agostino worked for him much earlier than scholars presently
assume. Among those no longer thought to be by Agostino are series of seven
fantastic heads or “testicciuole, doe mascheroni per om ati di comicioni e similF that I
believe Malvasia righdy assigned to him (see figs. 48, 50, and 52). Mariette, Oretti,
Heinecken, and Bartsch accepted these rare prints, but all twentieth-century
commentators have either rejected or ignored them because of their elementary
character, consisting of simple contours and dense areas of hatching and cross
hatching with delicate stippling used as a transition between the passages of light
and d a r k .44 Malvasia accounted for the simplistic rendering and the experimental
nature o f the engravings when he stated that Agostino made them as “prime cose per
42. Described as: “La Vierge a la rosa du Parmesan copie des celle I grave de Tibaldi".
43. Malvasia does not mention the Parable o fthe D evil Sowing Tares (Washington 1979, p. 99, no. 19,
as ca. 1580) but the monogram “A G .”, which appears on a tablet in the lower right corner of the
composition, compares to inscriptions found on other early prints by Agostino that read UA G C ,
one of which (the Holy Family) is dated 1576 {Ibid, p. 77, no. 3). T he print was added to Malvasia’s
list under the heading “intagliate da altri" when the second edition of the Felsina was published
(see Chvostal 2002). Dempsey, thus believing that Malvasia had rejected the print, felt that
Agostino was responsible for the design of the “disappointing engraving” but not its execution
(Dempsey 1985, p. 63). The Dog {Ibid., pp. 186-87, no 95»“ ca- 1582-85) was first attributed to
Agostino in the Felsinapittrice where the subject is described as “II suo Cane di casa, per lo quale
venendo a risse, edde a lasciarva la vita...” (Malvasia 1686, vol. 1, p. 100 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p.
83D.
44. DeGrazia remarked that, "Their quality is just too low to ascribe them even to Agostino’s
apprenticeship period” (Washington 1979, p. 388, under cat. nos. R 16-R 22.).
128
prova”A5 T he idea that Agostino made the engravings to prove himself a proficient
printmaker seems altogether likely, but for whom did he make them?
Presumably he produced the studies to show Tibaldi his abilities. In fact,

there is a small drawing at Chatsworth for the print of a Bacchante (fig. 48) that
seems to supports this hypothesis. It is one of four pen and brown ink sketches
representing similar subjects that are close, but not exact, matches with other prints
in the series (see figs. 49 and 50). Unaware of the connection with Agostino’s
engravings, Nicholas Turner ascribed the drawings to Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-1596),
Domenico’s Tibaldi’s brother, an attribution that Michael Jaffe endorsed in 1994.46
The possibility exists that Domenico himself made the studies for one of his
architectural projects since the heads are attached to keystones; although this is
difficult to substantiate given the rarity of his drawings, examining the buildings he
designed could resolve the issue.47 It is equally likely that Agostino himself drew
them.
Another print in the series, the Anima dannata or Damned Soul (fig. 51),
deserves special attention. I t stands out among the other six grotteschi because of the
ferocity o f the figure’s expression, his three-quarter pose, and clearly mortal subject.
Luca Ciamberlano (active ca. 1599-1641), Agostino’s pupil, engraved a more elaborate
version of the head for a series of engravings after designs by the master (fig. 53), but
scholars have overlooked this point, which locates the image in Agostino’s circle.
The ultimate source for the print is a drawing of Fury by Michelangelo. Although
Agostino could not have known the original study, he definitely knew an engraving
after it by Antonio Salamanca (ca. i50o-i562).48 He translated, in a simplified form,
the disembodied head in Salamanca’s print (fig. 52), copying the exaggerated facial
features, the puffy modeling of the muscles, and the flame-like treatment of the hair.
45. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 102 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 84).
46. See Michael Jaffe, The Devonshire Collection o f Italian Drawings, vol. 2, Bolognese and Emilian
Schools, (London: Phaidon Press, 1994), p. 218, cat. no. 356, ill
47. See Corrado Ricci, “II primo disegno di Domenico Tibaldi per la porta del Palazzo Pubblico di
Bologna,” Bolletino dA rte VII (1913), pp. 282-286.
48. In 1875, Luigi Passerini noted the connection between Michelangelo's drawing and Agosdno's
print. For the print see p. 56, no. 18.
129
Another work by the fourteen-year old Agostino, according to Malvasia, is the

oval Portrait o f Pope Gregory X III of 1572 (B.XVIII.116.146, fig. 54).49 The engraving was
commonly ascribed to Agostino during Malvasia’s time (“a lui comunemente attributo”),
but has been questioned or rejected in recent years.5° The Pontiff is shown bust-
length, with rather thick shoulders, large eyes and nose, and a small mouth. T he
dotted background is precisely the same as the one that Agostino added to
Bonasone’s portrait of Bocchi mentioned above. T he evenly-spaced parallel lines
engraved over the right eye and extending across the tunic, which have the effect of
a screen placed over the forms, are a nearly identical to those Agostino used in the
testicciuole (figs. 47, 49, and 51). Gregory XIII, or Ugo Boncompagni, came from
Bologna, as the inscription on the print indicates, and it seems reasonable to assume
that Agostino’s engraving commemorates his coronation on May 13,1572.51
Malvasia described a group o f ten devotional images of Christ, the Virgin, and
o f single Saints shown half-length as among Agostino’s “first things”.52 He
specifically stated that the artist produced them when he was fourteen years old and
added parenthetically that a certain “Stefanoni lied about the year [or date,found on one
o f the prints], advancing it to a great deal later.”53 Since Malvasia gave the subject of
each engraving, provided their approximate measurements, and in most cases
transcribed the one-line captions in capital letters that appears on all but two of the
prints, the works that he discussed are identifiable with certainty.54 Although no
one has challenged the attribution o f the Santrnt, modem scholars disagree with
Malvasia about their date since the year 1581 (the 8 on its side) is in the lower margin
o f one of them, Mary Magdalen (B.XVIII.79.80). T he word “Roma” also appears on
eight of them in a script altogether different from that used for the subtitles.
Malvasia, however, provided an explanation. H e reported that a person name
49. See Washingon 1979, p. 353, cat. no. 215.
50. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 98 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 81).
51. There is a discrepancy between the date that appears on the print(1572)and the one that
Malvasia gave (1571) although the date on the engraving had been alteredbutseems to have
once read i$7i. The date may also have been misprinted in th e Felsina.
52. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 362 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 266).
53. Ibid. (transl: Summerscale 2000, p. 90).
130
Locatelli, certainly the Bolognese print dealer Bernardino Locatelli, sold Agostino’s
copperplates to the Roman publisher Pietro Stefanoni (fl. 1597-1629) who in turn
altered the date and added the word “Roma” to some of the prints .55 It is
remarkable that Malvasia gave such specific details about the date of the Santini, the
provenance and publication of the plates, and explained the inscription. These
must have been relatively minor details to him and ones that he probably would not
have fabricated; nonetheless, he clearly felt the need to justify his early dating of the
prints in light of the contradictory information found on them. Stephen Ostrow
dismissed Malvasia’s statement on the grounds that Agostino, in his opinion,
deliberately left room on the prints for the word “Roma”.56 H e also speculated that
Agostino must have made the prints in Rome in 1581, but nowhere is such a trip
mentioned in the sources nor evident in the style of the prints themselves. Thus,
the hypothesis is not convincing. If Agostino added the city name, one would then
expect the format o f the inscriptions to be fairly consistent, which is not the case.
In fact, “Roma” does not appear on the two prints with long captions; it barely fits on
the line in another case; and in the dated example, where the inscription fills the
cartouche, “Roma” appears in the bottom margin of the print along with the date.
The latter instance is the most unusual since Agostino never placed an inscription
outside the delineated margin of his other prints.
Two more prints have been included among the original Santini for stylistic
reasons: Angels Supporting the Dead Christ, which Malvasia describes elsewhere in his
catalogue of prints as one of Agostino’s “prime cose”, and a Holy Family, which
Heinecken first ascribed to Agostino in the eighteenth century surely because of the
inscription in the lower margin: “Aug. C araxfe”. In the latter case Agostino’s name
is spelled and engraved the same way on another print, St. Francis Adoring the Crucifix
(B.XVIII.70.66), which Mariette attributed to the artist.57 This print’s simple
technique, its compressed composition, and style suggest a date roughly
contemporary with the Santini in my opinion.
54. See Washington 1979, pp. 138-44, cat. nos. 40-49.
55. For Locatelli see The Print in Italy, 1550-1620, exh. cat. by Michael Bury, London, British
Museum (London: British Museum, 2001), p. 205.
56. Ostrow 1966, voL 4, p. 497.
57. Washington 1979, pp. 220-21, cat. no. 126.
131
Malvasia reported that Agostino left Tibaldi’s employment once he had

finished several prints that are datable to ca. 1581/82.58 Tibaldi had provided
Agostino with ample opportunity to distinguish himself as a printmaker. At
approximately the same time Agostino engraved some of the thirty-seven illustrations
(B.XVII.137-42.192-228) in a book entitled Cremona Fedeltssima by the Cremonese painter
Antonio Campi. Although his frontispiece is inscribed 1582, the completed volume
was not completed until 1585, demonstrating the time invested in such
publications .59 While Agostino’s involvement with the Cremona Fedelissima offered
him work outside Bologna—apparently for the first time—neither Cremona nor
Bologna were major centers for printmaking.60 Rome and Venice were Italy’s largest
commercial centers for printing; thus Agostino’s subsequent relationships with
Venetian publishers were more profitable ventures. Agostino ended his ties with
Tibaldi, according to Malvasia, because “a certain Bertelli” lured him away with “huge
emoluments and excellent prospects”.61
Malvasia was keenly aware o f the monetary rewards that Agostino reaped from
his engravings. His main informant on the subject, Alessandro Monti, was “a seller
of popular devotional images and miniaturist at the Piazzuola delle Scuole,
whose...father Bartolomeo had formerly worked as an assistant at the press...for
Bertelli, [Donato] Rosigotti [also known as Rasicotti] and the other sellers of devotional
images in Venice”.62 Monti’s father used to talk about the Carracci, thus via the son
59. See Washington 1979, pp. 104-19, cat nos. 56-92; and Bohn 1995, pp. 76-98, nos. 3901.053-088.
60. “in Bologna, and generally in all of Emilia, there was no particular movement around the print
market in the 10th Century, since in this period the Venice area and Rome seem to nave
monopolized the sphere... In Emilia the first printmakers and dealers come to the fore
beginning in 1586. This year, in fact, was when Agostino Carracci began printing his own works
in Bologna, though his activity was limited to a few editions of some of his prints” (Paolo
Bellini, Printmakers and Dealers in Italy During the 16th and 17th Centuries,” Print Collector
X III [1975I, p. 25).
61. “[Agostino] went to Venice, having been invited by a certain Bertelli, I believe, who offered him
huge emoluments and excellent prospects, [grosseprovisioni e largjht promesse], and by Rusigotti
{Rascotti] and others, who competed with each other to get him under contract; ana he
engraved then Veronese’s Pieta, or Dead Christ, as we call it, and his Saint Anthony and Saint
Catherine, Tintoretto’s Temptation of Saint Anthony, and other similar work. And according to
Albani he then got Annibale to come there [Parma] to see the works of the above masters
[Correggfo and Parmigianino], and only at a much later time did the two of them return to Parma.
Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 367 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 270; transL: Summerscale 2000, pp. 99).
62. Ibid, p. 384 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 281; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 130).
Malvasia became “acquainted with the most reliable and recondite information about
Agostino that could ever be hoped for”.63 Agostino’s “prints, Monti said, were so
sought after that each one was seen as a lucky find, and valued as a great jewel, and
there was not a single nobleman who did not wish to have a copy of each one of
them, nor a dealer who did not take whole bales of them to send to other
countries”.6* They “were so appreciated throughout the world that the proliferation
of commissions and sales o f his prints from all sides enriched Tibaldi, Bertelli,
Rosigotti [Rasicotti] and other publishers, who competed with each other to get him
away from other printers by offering him a large share in the profits, and finally
bought his copperplates at a very high price .”65 Rasicotti’s bids were ultimately
successful because Agostino’s Venetian prints dadng from the latter half of the 1580s
bear his, not Bertelli’s, address.
T h e fifteen engravings that Agostino made after Venetian and Parmesan

paintings marked a turning point in his career. Seven of the prints depict pictures by
Paolo Veronese,66 five by Jacopo Tintoretto ,67 two by Correggio6**, and one by
T itian .^ The engravings usually bear the name of the artist responsible for the
original invention, and, less occasionally, Agostino’s signature. All but three are
inscribed with dates that range from 1582 until 1589. Most of those after Venetian
models bear a publisher’s imprint and Agostino himself published the two based on
pictures by Correggio. A t no other time in his career did Agostino replicate these
artists’ inventions and, overall, the group makes up only a small part of his total
production. Although Agostino made many book illustrations, small and large
independent engravings, coats-of-arms, and portraits, his magnificent reproductive
works after Correggio and the Venetians, which large in size and beautifully printed,
63. Ibid.
64. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 384 (Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 281; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 131).
65. Ibid, p. 384 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 281; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 129).
66. BJCVIII.50.21, B.XVIII.78.78, B.XVIII.89.96, B.XVIII.89.97, BJCVIII.90.98, B.XVIII. 93.102,

B.XVIII.95.105.
67. BJCVIII.69.63, B.XVIII.77.76, BJCVm.104.n7, B.XVIII.105.118, B.XVIII.51.23.
68. B.XVIII.49.20, B.XVIII.87.95.
69. BJCVIII.121.154.
133
made him famous and financially successful. They have also received the most
attention from scholars who believe that the group offers “visual substantiation” of
the Carracci Reform. But this view cannot be sustained if one takes into account the
realities of commissioning and marketing prints as I will explain below.
COUNTER PROOF
His engraving was moderated without vanity and based on good design.
Although he failed himself and his knowledge by abandoning his own
inventions [invenzionil for those of others, those few of his own make him
recognized as a most excellent master. (Giovanni Pietro Bellori)7°
ellori found Agostino’s many reproductive prints uninspiring and
B unimaginative compared to the handful of original designs that he had

engraved. In recent years, however, Agostino’s reproductions of Venetian
and Parmese prototypes have caught the attention of historians who believe that they
played an important role in spreading the Carracci Reform across Italy and the rest of
Europe. Dempsey stated this point of view most eloquently: Agostino’s goal, he
wrote, “was to reproduce critically [w.] the immense artistic heritage o f the
Cinquecento, and especially the north-Italian Cinquecento...to diffuse what Argan
has called the canonical texts o f Venetian and Lombardy visual culture to a broad
public o f connoisseurs and young artists, who were to use them as the basis for their
professional training.”?1 Babette Bohn agreed with Dempseys main thesis, adding
70. Bellori 1672, p. 114 (ed. 1976, pp. 125-26; transl.: Enggass 1968, p. 101).
71. Charles Dempsey, “Carracci” (review of Washington 1979), Print Quarterly II (1985), p. 65.
Dempsey also contended that Agostino altered his models, “changing the poses, spatial
relationships, and proportions at will”, in order, “to furnish the viewer with an image of a famous
painting together with the means for interpreting and understanding it.” “Agostino’s
engravings”, Dempsey wrote, “thus give visual substantiation to what the seventeen-century
biographers uniformly report was fundamental to their teaching, their reform and their work,
namely a synthetic integration of the different stylistic perfections attained of by various
masters” (Dempsey 1985, p. 65). But Agostino never modified the designs of others in ways that
ractical reasons cannot explain. Other reproductive printmakers traditionally took many
E berties with the designs they “copied” (see Susan Lambert, The Image M ultiplied; rive Centuries
o f Printed Reproductions o f Paintings and Drawing? {London: Trefoil, 1987]). At least some of
Agostino’s alterations must have served practical purposes. In the case of his print after
Veronese’s Pietd (B.XVII.93.102; fig. 57), perhaps the most dramatic example of modification, he
replaced the dark background in the painting with landscape elements (see Washington 1979, pp.
198-99, cat. no. 102). The rocky cliff and gnarled tree in th e print add visual interest to tne
printed image but the design could also be more easily printed than the solid black background
in the original oil painting. Likewise, Veronese’s Cruafixion, which Agostino reproduced as a
134
that Agostino “brought the lessons of Cinquecento Venetian painting to Ludovico and
Annibale through his reproductive engravings.”^ The concept is appealing since
printed images are such portable and popular forms of artistic expression—the most
democratic medium for disseminating ideas. Nonetheless, no one has actually
documented the phenomena or questioned the hypothesis, which assumes that
Agostino’s reproductive engravings were received differently from those by other
printmakers, that artists (in particular) bought Agostino’s prints, and that Agostino
himself chose the models he replicated.
Some of the above assumptions are unsupportable and all raise further
questions. The sources never described Agostino’s prints as effective vehicles for
conveying the coloristic or expressive effects of the paintings they reproduced. As
black and white images, it is difficult to imagine that artists learned much about
painting from engravings, although reproductive prints were ideally suited for
illustrating tnvenzioni.73 Scholars have not yet demonstrated that Agostino’s
engravings were more influential than prints by other artists.74 As I mentioned
above, Malvasia wrote about the “steep” prices Agostino’s engraving fetched and the
“enormous remunerations” he had received for his efforts. In fact, for economic
reasons, it seems unlikely that many artists could afford to buy them. Why did
Agostino engrave several compositions by Veronese and Tintoretto and only one
atypical example by Titian, his Self-Portrait (B.XVIII.121.154)? After all, Agucchi stated
that the Carracci greatly admired Titian’s paintings.75 Finally, if Agostino did employ
rectangle (B.XVII.50.21), is a tall, narrow altarpiece with an arched top whose proportions and
format would have been unmanageable for a printing plate (ibid, pp. 208-209, cat. no. 107).
72. Bohn 1995, p. 2. On finer issues Dempsey and Bohn departed. Bohn thought that Agostino’s
“greatest reproductive engravings were his works after Venetian and Emiuan artists, and his
most important achievement in printmaking was his capacity to duplicate the effects of Emilian
sfumato and Venetian colore” (jdid., p. 3). On the other hand, Dempsey saw in the prints “an
enhanced anatomical precision and clarity, {in which} the affetti is {ftc] rethought and subjected
to a subtle dramadc logic, the disposition of lights, dark, and reflected lights follows a rational
proportioning, and the very colouristic qualities are expressed in their equivalent values”
(Dempsey 1985, p. 65).
73. See Landua and Parshall 1994, pp. 362-63, for a discussion of late-sixteenth-century attitudes
toward reproductive prints.
74. Susan Wegner showed that Francesco Vanni mind Agostino’s prints for architectural elements,
figural poses, and some narrative content—a practice that she described as, at times,
“straightforward and even slightly naive”. See Susan E. Wegner, “Prints and the Reform of
Painting in Siena,” Print ^tfarterly rv (1987), p. 124.
75. See Washington 1979, pp. 250-51, cat. no. 145. Titian’s original is in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin.
135
his printmaking skills to perpetuate the Carracci Reform, it would be difficult to
explain why he never made prints o f his own paintings or those by his brother or
Ludovico.
In most cases, Agostino probably had little control over the subjects he
engraved, which would have been left to print publishers and others who
commissioned prints. In Venice, the presses of the Bertelli family issued many of
the deluxe reproductive prints made in the 1570s and 1580. They employed a stable
of printmakers including Agostino. Over the years, Luca Bertelli in Venice and
Pietro Bertelli in Padua, had developed a keen sense of the market. Orazio Bertelli
published three of Agostino’s prints after paintings by Veronese: the Pieta (dated
1582, B.XVTI.93.102, fig. 57), the Madonna Protecting Two Members o f a Confraternity
(undated, B.XVII.95.105), and the Crucifixion (dated 1582, B.XVII.50.21), as well as a copy
o f Barocci’s Maddona on the Clouds (B.XVIIL57.32, fig. 59).76 More is known about Luca
Bertelli than any of the other family members. He brought to press the Temptation o f
Saint Anthony (after Tintoretto, dated 1582, B.XVII.69.63) and the Martyrdom o f Sta.
Giustina (after Veronese, dated 1582, B.XVII.78.78; fig. $6).77 In all likelihood one o f
the Bertelli published the first states of the Mystic Marriage o f St. Catherine (after
Veronese, dated, 1582, B.XVII.90.98) and the Holy Family w ith Sts. John the Baptist,
Catherine, and Anthony Abbot (after Veronese, B.XVII.89.96), which bear no imprints
but contain the address of Giacomo Franco, who obtained plates from both Orazio
and Luca Bertelli in the late 1580s or 1590S.78 Although print specialists mentioned
that the Bertelli family published Agostino’s prints, only Michael Bury has
considered their relationship in depth. W hat can be said about the commissioning
o f Agostino’s Venetian prints and how are they characteristic of those the Bertelli
family published?
T h e production of a print could be complex and involve a number of

individuals besides the printmaker and his publisher. In the commercial print
76. See Washington 1979, pp. 198-90, cat. no. 102; p. 207, cat. no. 106; and pp. 208-209, cat. no. 107,
respectively.
77. Ibid., pp. 196-97, cat. no. 101; and pp. 204-206, cat. no. 105, respectively.
78. For th e prints see Washington 1979, pp. 202-203, cat. no. 104; and pp. 208-209, cat. no. 107,
respectively. For Franco see Carlo Pasero, “Giacomo Franco, editore, incisore e calcografo nei
secoli XVI e XVII La BibUofilia X X X V III (1935), pp. 332-45.
market there were generally two methods for financing prints (commissioning and
dedicating) that were distinguishable by the presence or absence o f inscriptions on
the final product. Publishers were often responsible for commissioned prints,
paying a fixed fee to the engraver for his services, and then profiting from the
impressions he printed thereafter. Dedications were another matter, as Francesca
Consagra explained:
The process of dedicating a print involved several steps: T he artist
chose an image to etch [or engrave] on a copperplate, found a
benefactor, wrote a complimentary phrase about that person, incised
the approved phrase on the copperplate, and presented the patron
with many copies of the print for a fee. For commissioned work the
artist had to surrender the copperplate [to the publisher], whereas the
artist retained the rights over a plate he had dedicated .79
Ultimately, commercially produced prints had to satisfy the tastes of the buying
public and the publisher or benefactor. By every indication, all parties favored prints
representing local monuments, such as important paintings, buildings, or fountains.
Dedicated prints usually represented subjects significant to the underwriter. Hence,
in Bologna, b oth Agostino and Tibaldi reproduced works by contemporary artists in
nearby churches and private collections.
The prominent inscription on Agostino’s Presentation at the Temple

(B.XVIII43.31, fig. 55), which is based on an altarpiece by Orazio Sammacchini (1532-
1577), identifies the painter, gives the painting’s location (San Giacomo Maggiore,
Bologna), and its donor (Lorenzo Magnani).80 Presumably, it was Magnani, a
Bolognese senator, who commissioned the engraving, which is unsigned and has no
publisher’s address. He probably wanted to commemorate the installation of
Sammacchini’s altarpiece in his family’s chapel in San Giacomo Maggiore in 1575. It
is likely that Sammacchini, who died in 1577, participated in the production of the
print since DeGrazia discovered a highly-finished modello by him that Agostino used
to manufacture his print, although DeGrazia, incorrectly in my opinion, dated the
print after Sammacchini’s death. T h e drawing is indented for transfer and is nearly
79. Francesca Consagra, “The Marketing of Pitro Testa’s ‘Poetic Inventions’” in Pietro Testa, 1612-
1650: Prints and Drawing?, exh. cat. by Elizabeth Cropper with essays by Charles Dempsey et al.
Philadelphia Museum of Art—Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Art Museums (Philadelphia:
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1988), pp. boorix-xc.
137
the same size as the engraving. Both also differ from the painting in sim ila r ways.
Thus, despite first impressions, the engraving actually reproduces the modello (in
reverse), rather than the altarpiece itself. The above example illustrates how some
prints might include the participation of an artist or designer (Sammacchini), a
patron (Magnani), a publisher (Tibaldi), and an engraver (Agostino). As with most of
his other engravings from the 1570s, Agostino did not sign the Presentation at the
Temple nor did Tibaldi append his address to the image.
T here are no reasons to believe that the creation of Agostino’s Venetian

prints were any less involved. I have no doubt that Veronese and Tintoretto
supported Agostino’s efforts to replicate their works, following in the shadow of
Titian who formed close ties with the Flemish engraver Cornelius Cort.
W hen Agostino arrived in Venice ca. 1582, Titian had been dead for
approximately six years, although his artistic legacy and posthumous reputation
continued to flourish. Titian’s contributions to printmaking in Venice nearly equaled
the advances he had made in painting. The master not only had used prints to great
visual effect but he had also commandeered the medium to promote his skills as a
great designer/inventor by commissioning professional printmakers to make
woodcuts and engravings after his drawings and pictures. A t the height of his career
in 1565 Titian formed a partnership with Cort, who had just moved to Italy from
Flanders once he had established himself as the leading printmaker in Antwerp.
Over the course of less than two years Cort produced nine engravings after religious
and mythological paintings by Titian.81 W e know that the painter sent impressions
of Cort’s prints to his friends and patrons who were more than delighted to receive
80. The inscription reads: OPVS HORATII SAMACHINI [the last N is backward} IN
ECCLS LACOBIBONON- / AD ALTARE M- DN-LAVRENTII DE MAGNANIS. For the
prints see "Washington 1979, pp. 121-23,cat- no- 31-
81. These include two engraving dated 1565: St. Jerome Reading in the Desert (See Manfred Sellink,
Comelis Cort [The New Hollstei: Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700], ed. by
Huigen Leeflang [Rotterdam: Sound & Vision PubL, 1999], pp. 160-63, no- 12°): Ruggiero Rescuing
Angelica (ibid, pt. I l l , p. 84-86, no. 192); and four dated 1566 The Adoration o f the Trinity (“La
Gloried) (ibid, pt. II, pp. 39-43, no. 82); Mary Magdalen Repentent in the Wilderness (ibid, pp. 193-97,
no. 132), Diane Discovering Callisto’s Pregnancy (fbid, pt. I l l , pp. 74-76, no. 189), Tityus Punished in
H ell (fbid, pp. 78-79, no. 190). Three more engravings are undated: The Annuciation (ibid, pt. I , pp.
48-52, no. 19), §tJerome Penitent in the Wilderness (ibid, pt. I, pp. 158-59, no. 119), and St. Margaret o f
Antioch and die Dragon (pt. I I , pp. 188-89,no- x3°)-
z38
them.82 Titian petitioned the Venetian Senate on February 4,1567 for a privligio to
curb the production of low-quality, unauthorized prints after his paintings.83 All but
three undated prints carry privileges so one would assume that they were printed
before February i567-84 In 1571-72, Cort returned to Venice to engrave five more
paintings by Titian: the Rape o f Lucretia; Cyclops Forging Arms-, and three, nearly
identical prints of the Martyrdom o f St. Lawrence, which many consider to be the
engraver’s finest works.8*
Tintoretto and Veronese succeeded Titian as the leading painters in the

Veneto. They, like their predecessor, must have realized how prints could increase
their artistic fame. In his biography of Veronese published in 1646, the Venetian
historian Carlo Ridolfi recognized this fact:
Accrebbero ancora molto il di lui nome le numerose inuentioni date
alle stampe dal Carraccio, come la tavole di Santa Giustina di Padova;
quella degli sponsali di Santa Caterina nella sua Chiesa di venetia; la
Purificatione di nosta Donna dell’organo di San Sebastiano, ridotta in
foglio reala dal Villamena; il Crocefisso della Chiesa stesa; e la tavola
narrata del Santo Antonio in San Francesco della Vigna dal medesimo
Carraccio intagliata; e quella di Christo risuscitato dal Chiliano; en due
de’Cenacoli detti, con altre inventioni trasportate ne’rami daTiaminghi
intagliatori, che divulgano o del continuo la fama sua.86
For Veronese and Tintoretto, Agostino filled an artistic void of sorts.

Apparently the earliest print after a painting by Veronese is by Giovan Battista
Fontana (ca. 1524-1587). It is a modest sized, unimpressive image of Saint Peter
Visiting St. Agatha in Prison published in 1569 and bears an inscription reading: Patdus
82. See Landua and Parshall 1994, p. 361.
83. The Senate granted Titian protection for fifteen years, an act that was unprecedented in Venice
and elsewhere. His request stated that he hoped to protect from fraud those who enjoyed
reproductions of his works, the “studiosi della p ittu n r, a phrase that Landau and Parshall
translated as “the students of painting”, but that I would suggest a broader meaning to include
those who only took an intellectual interest in painted images. Ibid., and 412, n. 11, where a
portion of Titian’s request is transcribed.
84. These are: Tbe Annunciation (Sellink 1999, pt. I, p. 48-52, no. 19), St. Jerome Penitent in the
Wilderness (fbid, p. 158-59, no. 119), and St. Margarrt o fAntioch and tbe Dragon (fbid, pt. I I , p. 188-89,
no. 130).
85. See Sellink 1999, p. xxx; ibid., pt. I l l , pp. 80-83, no- 191 (Rape ofLucretia); ibid, pp. 116-17, no. 209
(Cyclops ForgingArms); and ibid, pt. I I , pp. 176-84, nos. 126-28 (Martyrdom o fSt. Lawrence).
86. Carlo Ridolfi., Vita di Paolo Caliari Veronese, celebre pittore descritta dal cavalier Carlo Ridolfi
(Venice: M atteo Leni, 1646), p. 52).
139
Verone Jnuetor / Baptista Fontana incidebat.87 Some thirteen years would pass before
another printmaker, Agostino, would engrave another work by Veronese and, then,
in an impressive manner and with a series o f commercially successful prints.
Furthermore, Tintoretto’s paintings had never been reproduced until Agostino’s
arrived in Venice. Several factors seem to have triggered the unprecedented
interest.
Luca Bertelli published at least twenty-one deceptive copies o f Cert’s

engravings, an aspect of his activity that has been poorly documented until very
re c e n d y .8 8 H e employed in his bottega seven identifiable engravers: Giacomo Franco
(1550-1620), Bartolomeo Mazza, Giovanni Battista Mazza, Mongrammist IFA,
Monogrammist FMA, Monogrammist PV, Girolamo Olgiati. Only four of the copies
are dated: 1572,1573,1574, and 1575, although the were probbaly published around the
same period, were made a year or two after Cort’s, the earliest of which is dated 1568
and the latest, 1578. T he demand for Cort’s prints throughout Europe was
extraordinary; seventy-three additional copies are known to exist after the twenty-one
compositions that Bertelli’s team also replicated.
Agostino’s reproductive engravings are not only similar in technique, size, and
subject to Cort’s, the younger printmaker seems to have modeled himself after the
master. Cort’s major contribution to the development of printmaking was the
introduction of a swelling burin lin e .^ 9 The technique produced rich areas of
shadow and give engraved lines an ornamental quality that has great aesthetic appeal.
In 1580 Agostino made two close variants of engravings by Cort: St. Roch (B.XVII.83-
87. For Fontana see Thieme Becker, voL X II, p. 180; and for additional works by him see Mostra di
stampe popolari venete deT 500, exh. cat. ed. by Anna Omodeo, Gabinetto disegni e stampe degli
Uffizi, Florence (Florence: Olschki, 1965). For the print see Paolo Ticozzi, Immagim dal
Veronese: indsiom dalsec. X V I a l X IX dalle colkdom del Gabinetto nazionale delle stampe, exh cat. ed.
by Maria Catelli Isola, Gabinetto nazionale delle stampe, Rome (Rome: De Luca, 1978), p. 23, cat.
no. 1.
88. In his 1948 catalogue of Cort’s prints, Bierens de Haan listed eight copies after engravings by
Cort that Bertelli printed. See J. C. J. Bierens de Haan, L ’oeuvre grave de Cornelius Cort, graveur
bollandais 1533-1578 (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1948). Manfred Sellmk’s superb catalogue raisonne
o f Cort’s prints, published in 1999, lists twenty-one instances where Bertelli’s address appears on
a copy of a Cort print. See Sellink 1999.
89. “The swelling burin line", DeGrazia wrote, “is one which begins delicately, deepens and spreads
out, and then tapers to a dot at the end of the line” (See Washington 1979, pp. 31-33).
140
8 4 .8 7 ) and Christ and the Samaritan Woman ( B . X V I I I .5 4 .2 6 ) .9 o Not surprisingly, both of

Agostino’s prints were published in Venice; the former by Donato Rasicotti and the
latter by Pietro Bertelli. I t seems likely that the young engraver made them for the
Venetian publishers knowing well that the style he used and the models he
emulated would appeal to their tastes. W ith facsimile-like precision, Agostino also
copied Cort’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt (B.XVI11.45.15) around 1580/81, w hich may well
have been made for a Venetian press.91 I suspect that this group of Cort-like prints
by Agostino convinced Luca Bertelli and his associates that Agostino could make
“original” reproductive prints in a style that was very similar to Cort’s.
The Martyrdom o f Sta. Giustina (B.XVIIL78.78, fig. 56), is, by far, the largest and
grandest print Agostino made for Luca Bertelli.92 It reproduces an altarpiece in the
church of Santa Giustina, Padua, that Veronese and his studio completed in 1575.
W hile the engraving is a technical tour-de-force, the lengthy inscription beneath the
image and the brief line of text within the design are equally interesting. W ritten in
an elegant cursive script at the bottom edged of Veronese’s composition are the
following two lines: “Cum Priviligijs / Sumi Pontiftcis Caes Maestatis Regis Catholici et
senatus Veneti”. The first line is the standard one found on prints with privileges,
warrants intended to hinder copyists, and safeguard the publisher’s production
costs .93 (The inscription’s position as part of the actually printed composition would
have hindered someone from cutting the warning out.) Much more extraordinary is
the fact that both the Pope, Gregory VIII, and the Venetian Senate granted the
image protection. Bertelli must have expected the work to circulate widely in the
Veneto and the whole realm of the Roman Church. Given the print’s popularity, his
expectations were well founded. Already in 1584, the Florentine writer Raffaello
Borghini noted in his guidebook II Riposo that readers could see Veronese’s
altarpiece in the form of Agostino’s print, although Borghini never m entioned that
90. See Washington 1979, pp. 96-97, cat. no. 17; and pp. 102-103,cat*no-2I-
91. Ibid., p. 137, cat. no. 39.
92. See ibid, p. 204. cat. no. 105.
93. Agostino’s Adoration o fthe M agi, published by Tibaldi, seems to be the earliest of his works to
have received legal protection against counterfeiting. A map of the city of Bologna
(B.XVIII.151.263) with an engraved frieze by Agostino dated 1580, also had privileged status. See
Washington 1979, p. 118, cat. no. 29.
I4I
Agostino was the engraver: “In S. Giustina di Padova e di sua mano la tavola del!altar
maggiore, la quale si vede in stampe”M
T he address on the M artyrdom ofSta. Giustina reveals the nature of Agostino’s

business relationship with Luca Bertelli. Dated June i, 1582, the imprint reads as
follows: Venetijs Kal. Iun. MDLXXXII Ctnae D .V. Addictissimi Lucas Bertellus, et socius
Augu.s C ar.fe. The “K al.” is short for “Kalendae”, or “calends” (the first day of the
month) and “Iun.” is an addreviation for “Iunius”, or “June”. The use of the term “et
socius” meaning “and associate” is telling because it indicates that Agostino had a
financial share with Bertelli in the publication of the print .95 The term (as well as
“et”, “sociorum”, and the like) appear fairly frequently in books of the period to
designate that two or more publishers shared responsibility for printing. This usage
occurs, for instances, in two Bolognese books dated 1559 and 1560, respectively, that
Giovanni Rossi and Alessandro Benacci issued together soon after Rossi had settled
Bologna from Venice.96 Moreover, the publication information hints at Agostino’s
financial independence at a time when Annibale was working in Ludovico’s bottega
and had not yet completed any public commissions. The inscription also pre-date’s
Ludovico’s elevation to the rank of councilman in the Bolognese guild of painters.
Nor, for that matter, had the Carracci yet established their academy.
T he long dedicatory inscription that fills the margin beneath Agostino’s print
resolves any doubts about the actually meaning of the print, which has nothing to do
with the personal interests o f the Carracci.97 The prints is dedicated to a Venetian
Patrician named Giacomo Contareno who had fought victoriously against the Turks.
The date of his victory is given in the inscription as October 7, which is a veiled
reference to the Battle of Lepanto, when a Christian fleet defeated an Arabic force
94. Raffaello Borghini, IlRiposo di Raffaello Borghini: in cui dellapittura, e della scultura si fauella, de’p iu
illustripittori, e scultori, e delle piu fiunose opere loro sifa mentione; e le coseprincipali appartenenti a aette
arti s’insegnano (Florence: Giorgio Marescotti, 1584), p. 56.
95. Landau and Parshall 1994, p. 301
96. See Sorbelli 1923, p. 39.
97. CLAR“ ° V IR O IA C O B O C O N T A R E N O ./P A T R IC IO VENETO. Nibilgtoriosius, nibilq [a ‘ is above the

q \ magmficentius felicissima adversus Turcas victoria concessum bumano generi a Deo opt.max.amultis
saeculssfia t, quam cum septimo octobr. die D.Iusthuu sacro Cristiana Resp. obtinuerit, Paullus Calliari
Veronensis Patauij eius Diuae M artijrium in aeda ei dicata penicillo fellicissime I expressit. Id nos bac
142
in a famous blood conflict.98 October 7 is also Santa Giustina’s feast day, explaining
why this particular subject was a suitable one for Contareno’s dedication. Veronese is
also mentioned in the inscription where his artistic achievements, particularly his
abilities to use a paintbrush or “peniciUofeUkissime”, are duly praised.
Agostino’s autonomy as a printmaker increased rather rapidly during the first

half of the 1580s. Having been under contract for Tibaldi until the very early
eighties, Agostino moved on to Venice, where he worked for several members of the
Bertelli family and formed a limited partnership with Luca Bertelli with whom he
share the profits from the Martyrdom ofSta. Giustina. Agostino continued to work for
publishers for the rest of his career, but he also able to publish four of his own prints:
the Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome (B.XVIII.87-88.95) and Ecce Homo (B.XVIIL49-
50.20), which reproduce paintings by Correggio and are dated 1586 and 1578
respectively; Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (1586, B.XVIII.72.68, fig. 122); and the
Cordons o f St. Francis (1586, B.XVIII.98.109). All of the works that Agostino published
himself date beyond the period that concerns me here. Nonetheless, they
demonstrate the success he had as a printmaker. But how did the artist use the
medium of printmaking as a means of visual expression, remembering that many
scholars considered his engravings after the Old Masters extraordinary examples of
the printmaker’s art. I will now turn briefly to this subject.
T H E GRA VEUR-PEINTRE AND T H E PEINTRE-GRA VEUR
Even as a boy, when has master Prospero Fontana exhorted him to study the
prints of Albert Durer, which were very famous then, Agostino replied, “N o
tabeUa aereis formis repraesentauimus Tibiq, Iacobe Contarene, Seamus singular* observantiae {the a
and e in ligature] nostrae, et virtiuis tuae testimonium, cuimaiora deberiomnesfatentur.
98. “Occupied by the Turks in 1498, Lepanto is chiefly celebrated for the victory which the
combined papal, Spanish, Venetian, and Genoese fleets, under Don John of Austria, gained over
the Turkish fleet on 7 Oct., 1571. T he latter had 208 galleys and 66 small ships; the Christian
fleet about the same number. The crusaders lost 17 ships and 7500 men; 15 Turkish ships were
sunk and 177 taken, from 20,000 to 30,000 men disabled, and from 12,000 to 15,000 Christian
rowers, slaves on the Turkish galleys, were delivered. Though this victory did not accomplish
all that was hoped for, since the Turks appeared the very next year with a fleet of 250 ships
before Modon and Cape Matapan, and in vain offered battle to the Christians, it was of great
importance as being the first great defeat of the infidels on the sea. Held by the Venetians
from 1687 to 1689, and thence by the Turks until 1827” (Herbermann, Charles George, et aL eds.
Tbe Catholic Encyclopedia {New York: Encyclopedia Press Inc, 1913}, s.v. “Leponta,” by S. Vailhe,
Transcribed by John Francis Mary Freeman ).
143
sir, I will not, for I seek the tender not the hard [duro].” (Carlo Cesare
Malvasia) 99
gostino was not an experimental printmaker, a classic peintre-graveur. He
A used etching with engraving only once in two prints datable to 1589, or later,
which formed part of a series of etchings by Epifanio d’Alfiano, a little-
known Florentine artists.100 Unlike Annibale and Ludovico—who also employed
diypoint in their prints—Agostino never made a pure etching. N or was he
interested in the creative effects artists could achieve during the printing process
like using colored or tinted papers, or special inking. At least three, first-state
impressions of Ludovico’s Holy Family Under an Arch (B.XVIII.26.4, fig. 15) are printed
on blue paper, a support he also used for drawings.101 Similarly, Annibale’s prints
often contain passages of surface tone: the judicious application of ink to the smooth
face of a plate during printing as a means of shading. In the Crucifixion (B.XVTII.183.5,
fig. 58) of 1581, Annibale’s earliest signed and dated print, he formed the soft
shadows that rake across the figure of Christ using the technique. Because
Ludovico’s and Annibale’s prints show such careful attention to process, one assumes
that they personally supervised or participated in their printing. On the other hand,
pressmen were responsible for issuing Agostino’s engravings. So, what can be made
of these properties inherent to nearly all of his prints?
Some scholars consider Agostino’s copy (BJCVIII.57.32, fig. 59) of Federigo

Barocci’s etching the Madonna and Child on the Clouds (B.XVIIL3.2, fig. 60) a “very literal
translation of Barocci”, but the reproduction is hard and without atmosphere
compared to the sfumato and delicacy of the originaL Plentiful examples o f the first
state of Agostino’s print exist carrying the address of Orazio Bertelli in the margin
and, in the lower right, Agostino’s signature and the date: Agu. fe. 1582., where
Barocci’s name was in the prototype. The translation o f a design from one medium
99. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 481 (ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 344; transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. 288).
100. In this case, DeGrazia suggested that Agostino may have had “a simple interest in trying
out the etching needle”, although hes other explanation that all the other prints in the set
were etchings is the logical reason for the anomaly. See Washington 1979, pp. 266-71, cat. nos.
152 and 153. See also Italian Etchers o ftbe Renaissance and Baroque, exh. cat., Boston: Museum of
Fine Arts, 1989, pp. 113-14, cat. no. 54.
101. Washington 1979, p. 482, under no. 1. For a discussion o f Ludovico’s possible reason for using
blue paper see Cambridge, MA. 1992, pp. 77-80, cat. no. 6.
I44
to another often resulted in very different effects even when the source o f inspiration
was also a print. Barocci was a highly creative printmaker who employed both
etching and some engraving in his print. He achieved such subtlety by applying a
light touch to the etching needle as he drew the broken contours of the forms and
laid in passages of shading. H e also conjured gray tones with countless tiny dots (fig.
61), which are altogether absent in Agostino’s version even though he added
stippling to many other prints (fig. 62). According to Malvasia, Barocci “had actually
complained” about the “more accomplished engraving”, although it is difficult to
imagine that he considered Agostino’s work an improvement over his own.102
In a unique instance, Annibale also made an engraved copy after Barocci’s

Madonna and Child on the Clouds, but he strove to imitate the original more closely in
terms of technique and compositional fidelity, although his facial types are
idiosyncratic. Examined up-close, Annibale’s print is speckled with minute dots
distributed like those in the etching (fig. 63). His closely spaced hatching is also
akin to Barocci’s method. In addition, surface tone appears in the areas of shadow
loosely approximating the rich passages of inky darkness in the original. A number
of scholars have compared Annibale to Agostino, noting their disparate approaches.
Marjorie Cohn characterized “Agostino’s graphic language” as “one that is
consistently orderly and rational. Hatching always follows the contours o f forms, the
compositions worked out with a great deal of attention to detail, and as DeGrazia has
remarked, his lines are ‘juxtaposed in a careful progression’”, whereas Annibale
explored the “artistic possibilities” o f printmaking .I03 O f all the printmakers of the
sixteenth and seventeen centuries, Annibale has been created with “the greatest
range of graphic experimentation within a single oeuvre, with each solution brilliantly
tied to a different experiment of content. His prints rival his paintings and his
masterful drawings in invention.”I04
Exploring why Annibale experimented so freely is beyond the scope of this

discussion, however, it is possible to explain Agostino’s more limited approach to
printmaking. The points mentioned above indicate that he adapted his style to the
103. Cambridge 1992, p. 69, under no. 3 (the reference to DeGrazia [Bohlin] is from Washington 1979,
P-39)-
145
demands of print production on a commercial scale. The regular netting of hatching
and cross hatching that appears in his works yielded sharp, graphic images with an
economy of line relative to Annibale’s denser and less durable technique. As a result
o f his practices, Agostino’s publishers could produce many impressions of his works
before the plates showed signs of wear. DeGrazia, for example, knew of only four
impressions of Annibale’s Madonna and Child on the Clouds but many more of
Agostino’s, which was durable enough to have been recut in the second state after
the plate had worn. Because an etching yields fewer impressions than an engraving,
Agostino’s print after Barocci’s etching offered his publisher greater profits than
Barocci’s original print did.
The appeal of Barocci’s print extended beyond the delightful charm of his
figures and the tender relationship he expressed between the Virgin and Child.
T h e subject in general was quite popular. In fact, two other representations of the
Madonna and Child on a cloud have been ascribed to Agostino: one (B.XVIII.38),
probably not by Agostino, is a copy after a print by Domenico Tibaldi (B.XVIII.37); the
other is only partially autograph (B.XVIII.36, fig. 65). T he latter example is unusual
because Agostino added two cherubs and some clouds to an older plate that was
based on a painting by Raphael and had been engraved in the manner of
Marcantonio Raimondi. Agostino’s alterations are clearly visible since he made no
attem pt to imitate Raimondi’s style. Malvasia explained that the artist did so because
he wanted “the world be the judge which of the two manners was the better, and
which was more worthwhile”, however it seems more likely Agostino’s additions
simply “completed” the composition and made the image more marketable.10*
There is no evidence, I believe, to assume that Agostino approached

printmaking with any further goal in mind than engraving plates that could be used
104. See Boston 1989, p. xxvi-xxvii. See also pp. 105-12, cat. nos. 49-53.
105. “the story is told to this day of the satisfaction he got by mortifying a famous nobleman, who
was constantly drumming into him that he should use a very fine burin line of great subtlety
like that of his country-man Marcantonio and not (as the gentleman put it) the coarse line he
had started to use because it was so easy and quick, whereupon not only did Agostino reproduce,
in exactly the same style, the engraving of the Madonna Seated on the Clouds, based on Raphael
in order to show that ne also knew how to use a very fine burin line like Marcantonio’s, but he
then added four very beautiful clouds altogether different from those of Marcantonio, which
were always so dry and hard, as well as two cherub heads made with large and deepcuts
according to his own manner, his aim being to have the world be the judge which of the two
manners was the better, and which was more worthwhile” (Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 402 {Malvasia
ed. 1841, voL 1, pp. 293-94; transl: Summerscale 2000, pp. 166-67]).
to print large editions—a supposition that finds support in the relatively large number
of extant impressions of his prints. Because so many o f them are known to have
been posthumously printed in late states, Agostino’s reputation as a master engraver
rather than a master painter runs deep in the Carracci literature and in the print
scholarship. But while his reputation is one pressing matter, the role his prints
played in the Carracci Reform is another. My intention above was to define
Agostino’s early activities more clearly and view his prints in a more practical context.
Although th e Carracci successfully reformed painting, as a printmaker Agostino
made engravings that seem to have added little to that cause. His contributions as a
painter and thinker were, however, much more significant but are now more difficult
to gauge due to losses and the lack of scholarly interest in his activities as a graveur-
peintre.
C h a pt e r Se v e n
I n Search O f T h e G o l d e n Fleece A n d
O th er A r t ist ic O p p o r t u n it ie s
T h e C a r r a c c i A n d C o u n t F il ip p o F ava
n May 22,1579, Count Filippo di Antonio Fava (d. 1628) married Ginevra
O Orsi, the daughter of a Bolognese senator who provided the bride with a
dowry of four-thousand-five-hundred scudi.1 Ginevra moved into Filippo’s
palazzo, which his uncle (Tommaso Fava) had acquired in 1546.2 By most standards,
the Palazzo Fava is not very large, having been built in the early fourteenth century. It
occupies the comer of a block in the center of the city, opposite the via
dell’Indipendenza (formerly the Strada Maggiore) from the Cathedral of Bologna and
across the via Manzoni from the church of the Madonna di Galleria.3 But despite its
modest size, the couple lavishly redecorated their new home over the course of two
decades. Carracci scholars have assumed that the first phase of the remodeling
program occurred ca. 1580, when Francesco Morandi modified the building with
funds from Ginevra’s dowry. Presumably, once the project was completed in 1582 or
1583, the Carracci would have started their famous fresco cycles inside. Giuseppe
Guidicini (1736-1837) first proposed this idea in a book posthumously published in
1. According to Fabio Bondi, “Cenni sull’architectura di P alazzo Fava” in Bologna 1984, pp. 329 and
333; and Luigi Spezzaferro, “I Carracci e i Fava: alcune ipostesi” in Bologna 1984, p. 276.
2. See Lino Sighinolfi, Ipalazzi Fava di via Manzoni (Bologna: Paolo Neri, 1912), pp. 12-13.
3. The palace remained in the Fava family until 1911 when they sold the building. I t was then
transformed into a wing of the Hotel Majestic Baglione. In 1985, a portion of piano nobik,
including the Sola di Gtasone, opened to the public as an extension of the neighboring Museum
Civico Medievale. For a histoiy of the structure during the nineteenth century see Giacomo
Bortolotti, ‘II Grand Hotel Majestic BaglioniBologna Turistica II (1956), pp. 46-53.
H7
148
1868-73, where he ascribed the facade to Francesco Morandi.4 Since the

architectural work is otherwise undocumented, Guidicini believed that construction
had ceased in 1584 based solely on stylistic evidence. H e also assumed that the
inscription on the Jason cycle (1584) indicated when the Carracci had started the
fresco.5 This interpretation seemed unlikely to Lino Sighinolfi (1912) who proposed
that construction had begun ca. 1580 and doubted that Morandi had designed the
edifice, attributing the work, instead, to an “ignoto architetto”.6 Fabio Bondi raised
the possibility that Antonio Morandi (d. 1568), Francesco’s father, reconstructed the
palace in the 1560s when he also worked on another palazzo belonging to the Fava
family on the via del Cane .7 Giancarlo Roversi (1986) further argued in favor o f an
attribution to Antonio Morandi and dated the structure to ca. 1568, which means that
Tommaso Fava, rather than Filippo, oversaw the project.8 Carracci scholars have
been reluctant to accept this proposal for some unknown reason (Gail Feigenbaum
stated in 1993 that Filippo himself had built the palace).9 But accepting the earlier
dating of the renovations takes into account the fact that the construction and
decoration of a palazzo could take many years and involves dozens of architects,
artists, and craftsmen.10 The implications of such chronological issues for
reexamining the relationship between the Carracci and Filippo Fava, however, are
far-reaching since the visual evidence suggests that one or more of the Carracci had
worked for Fava well before 1584 and probably prior to his wedding in 1579.
W hile his involvement in improving the palazzo structurally is questionable,

Filippo was definitely responsible for decorating the piano rtobile beginning with two
4. Giuseppe Guidicini, Cose notabili della cittd di Bologna, ossia, Storia cronologica de’stun stabilisacri,
pubbltct eprivati, ed. Ferdinando Guidicini (Bologna: G. Vitali, 1868-1873), vol. 2, p. 186.
5. The misinterpretation of the date on the fresco persisted in the literature for years. See, for
example, Foratti 1913, p. 60; Malaguzzi-Valeri 1924, p. 28; Bodmer 1939, pp. 8-9; and Bologna
1956a, p. 74.
6. Sighinolfi 1912, p. 24.
7. Bondi 1984, p. 332.
8. Giancarlo Roversi, Palazzi e case nobili defôo a Bologna: la storia, lefamiglie, It opere (forte (Bologna:
Grafis, 1986), pp. 100-102.
9. See Feigenbaum in Bologna 1993, p. 8, under cat. nos. 4-5.
149
small chambers overlooking the via dell’Indipendenza, which was the city’s main
avenue (nos. i and 2, Appendix C). All o f the rooms are based on subjects from
classical antiquity. The earliest decorations by the Carracci represent the Rape of
Europa, in one of the two, nearly square camerini I just mentioned (no. 2, Appendix
Q . Next in the chronology came the Jason frieze completed in 1584 in the adjacent
sala grande (no. 3, Appendix C), which is the most famous of the interiors. Aside
from Malvasia, the seventeenth-century sources say little about the Europa and Jason
cycles, however, the frieze in the Sala di Enea received more attention (no. 4,
Appendix Q . As its name implies, the room contains paintings from Vergil’s epic
poem: twelve episodes in all. They also inspired later friezes in two nearby rooms:
one by Francesco Albani (painted ca. 1595/96) and the other by Bartolomeo Cesi
(painted ca. 1598).11 In 1663, the leading Roman publisher, Giovanni Giacomo Rossi
(1627-1691), issued a bound series of engravings by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli (1634-
1718) after the frescos in the Sala d i Enea. Entitled UEnea vagante pitture dei Carracci
intagliate, e dedicate al Serenissimo Principe Leopoldo Medici da Gioseppe Maria M itelli
Bolognese, the prints circulated widely and provided the basis for Bellori’s brief
descriptions of some of the paintings.12 But even before Mitelli made his prints,
Francesco Scanelli (1657) referred to “alcunifregT in the Palzzzo Fava, “collhistorie a
fresco dellEneide di Virglio delmedesimo Lodovico, faalctme diFrancesco Albani, e daltri suoi
ScolarF, neglecting to elaborate.^ The Aeneid cycle probably dates to ca. i587/88I4
or beyond the scope of this study, but the commission had resulted from the Count’s
10. See Samuel Vitale, “A new document for the Carracci and Ruggero Bascapfe at the Palazzo
Magnani in Bologna,” Burlington Magazine CXLIII (2001), pp. 604-613.
11. See Anna Ottani, Gliaffrescidei Carracci in palazzo Fava (Bologna: Casa Editrice, 1966), pp. 59-73.
For the fullest and most recent account of the Aeneid frieze see Bologna 1984, pp. 189-203, cat.
no. 134. For Albani’s frescoes see Catherine R. Puglisi, Francesco Albani (New Haven: Yale
University Press), pp. 87-89, cat nos. i.i-jd, ill.; and for Cesi’s see Alberto Graziani, Bartolomeo
Cesi, with essays by Francesco Abbate and Mario di Giampaolo (Bussero, Milano: A, Dalerba,
1988), pp. 63-64.
12. Bellori 1678, p. 24 (Bellori ed. 1976, p. 37). In his vita of Agostino, Bellori referred the artist’s
Jupiter unelle casa de medemisignoriFavi” but never mentioned the Sala di Enea specifically (see
Bellori 1678, p. 106 {Bellori ed. 1976, p. 118]). The same can be said of Faberio, whose “Orazione”
had served as Bellori’s source for the comment (Faberio in Bologna 1603, p. 33-34 (rpt. in
Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 428 [Malvasia 1841 ed., vol. 1, p. 308}).
13. Scanelli 1657, P- 343-
14. The recent publication of bilana, or balance sheets, indicating that the Carracci received
payment in 1592 for another cycle, the Story o f Romulus in the Palazzo Magnani, Bologna,
150
lukewarm reception of the Jason frieze. Malvasia stated that Filippo had specifically
requested that Ludovico paint the Sala di Enea under the condition “that the work was
to be done without his cousins” because the “rivals of the Carracci” had criticized
Annibale’s share of the Jason cycle as too rough and unfinished.1? This statement
indicates that the different styles in the frieze were evident to contemporaries and
that some favored Ludovico’s approach to that of Annibale.
Filippo Fava was the Carracci's most important and longstanding patron in
Bologna but he also unwittingly commissioned works that would confound scholars
owing to their collaborative nature, the effects of time, and fundamental changes in
taste. It was not until 1966, with the publication of Anna O ttani’s Gli affresci dei
Carracci in palazzo Fava, that the other two fresco friezes by the Carracci (the Europa
and the Jason cycles) received serious critical attention.1^ Since then, historians
have focused on the Jason cycle, which is problematic because its poor condition
frustrates the methods traditionally used to attribute the individual scenes. In
addition the attributions of the small group of drawings related to the project are
disputed among all three Carracci. Discussions of the frieze have thus dealt with
issues o f connoisseurship and to a lesser extent, with iconographical matters.^
Recently identified drawings and new historical evidence help to clarify the artists’
working methods and suggest a new interpretation for the frieze.
suggests the paintings in the Sala d i Enea, which is simpler in design and conception, were
completed somewhat earlier, perhaps ca. 1587/88. For the bilanzi see Vitale 2001, p. 606.
The strongest critique came from Bartolomeo Cesi, who admitted that Jason cycle was good”,
but, so rough and ready, that while Agostino had executed those chiaroscuro terms [i.e.
Jupiter\ very brilliantly, and some o f them exceptionally so, th at rascal Annibale had dashed
things off in that impatient, unpolished way of his, and so the histories he painted there looked
incomplete and not properly finished, and had too much of the sketch about them, resembling
relinunary sketches rather than true paintings that are properly corrected and finished; that
E e should nave introduced fewer things, and enlarged the figures so that they would not have
ended up looking so very tiny in such a high room...” (ibid p. 375 {Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1,0. 274;
transl.: Summerscale 2000, p. no}). Malvasia ascribed three of th e scenes in the Sala m Enea
to Annibale and the rest to Ludovico, although the entire work has suffered from damage and
over-painting, making such claims difficult to judge.
16. Ottani 1966. Even today Ottani’s book contains the only published reproductions of the panels
of grottescbi in the Sala di Europa, which is not accessible to th e public, while other parts of
the frieze, namely the pairs o f caryatids in each corner of the room, can only be seen on site.
17. As early as 1924, Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri argued in his article on Ludovico’s formative
years that the artist’s role in the Jason cycle “sarebbe limitato” because it was then impossible
to discern his hand in the works (see Malaguzzi Valeri 1924, pp. 28-29). Bodmer, in his
monograph on Ludovico, skirted the subject altogether since he believed Ludovico’s
involvement in the Sala di Giasone was minimal.
Time has also taken a toll on the frescoes in the Camerino d’Europa, which is
neither easily accessible nor well photographed. Although the work is undated, most
scholars believe that the Carracci started to paint the camerino and sala grande
simultaneously, ca. 1582/83, and that Annibale and Agostino finishing the smaller
room first.1^ The programs are so different in style and conception that the
Camerino d’Europa must predate the Jason frescoes by a few years. An examination of
the decorative scheme of the room in toto supports this hypothesis and sheds a
clearer light on the frieze’s theme. T he most problematic and least characteristic
works that Filippo commissioned from the Carracci workshop are the tattered
remnants of pictures once in the second camerino. It was decorated first among the
rooms. These fascinating paintings, about which practically nothing has been
written, offer new insights into the activities of Ludovico’s workshop at the beginning
of the Carracci Reform.
A n n ib a l e ’s D ec o r a tiv e P a in t in g s
ccording to Malvasia, Annibale had decorated both the Camerino d’Europa
A and the small, nameless room next door before the Carracci had begun the
Jason c y c le .19 In the Camerino d’Europa Annibale worked in fresco, but for
the other camerino he painted chiaroscuri, pagan deities, and portraits in oil on
wooden planks incorporated into the paneling (see no. 1 in Appendix Q . Malvasia
recorded both in the Felsina as follows:
In the Fava palace, in the small room adjacent to the great hall [the Sala
di Giasone}, the whole frieze of fanciful grotesques, punctuated by four
small pictures simulating framed paintings that represent the fable of
Europa, who is eventually carried away by the bull, entirely in the style
of Titian [sul gusto affatto del Tiziano\. In the second room, or
antechamber [next to the Sala di Giasone], nine pieces in oil on panel,
containing deities and portraits, these being early works, however, and
sometimes a little puerile, as well as eight very small pieces done in
chiaroscuro [pezzetti chiaroscuriJ.20
18. ‘Judging from the evidence of style, particularly of the fauns and architectural ornament, the
frescoes by the younger Carracci in the adjacent Sala d’Europa must have been executed during
the early stages of work on the story ofJason" (Feigenbaum in Bologna 1993 [English ed.}, p. 8,
under cat. nos. 4-5).
19. For the most complete discussion of the Europa frieze see Bologna 1984, pp. 85-89.
20. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 499 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 357; transL: Summerscale 2000, p. 323).
•I
152 i
T o judge from this, and a similar description in Malvasia’s Bolognese guidebook of j
1686, the latter group of paintings formed a camera picta like those often found in
I talian palaces of the period and usually the work of anonymous, or minor, artisans
who specialized in chiaroscuri and other painted decorations.21 Unfortunately, the
paneling was dismantled in the seventeenth century and the common wall that once
divided that chamber from the Camerino d’Europa was partially demolished in the
early twentieth century thus opening up the two spaces. Malvasia reported that
Annibale’s pictures “were sawed off and removed from the walls and then sold in
1656, only to be recovered later by the present Count Alessandro, framed, and put
back in the room, where they are hung along with works by other esteemed master as
in a picture gallery.”22 In the fifteenth-century small rooms were often used for
entertaining close friends, for dining, or as studies. The decorative elements still
intact in both camerini or once recorded in the rooms define their personal character
and are unlike the public displays once in the Sala d i Giasone, which I will discuss
shortly.
Five of the figural compositions presently belong to Count Hercolani Fava

Simonetti, a descent of the “Count Alessandro” mentioned above. Although
scholars have known about the group for at least the past forty years, very little has
been written about them and few have actually seen them. This explains why four of
the panels remain unpublished. Their very poor condition has also deterred
specialists from studying them. They represent Diana and Apollo, a man playing a
recorder, a boy playing a lute, a boy singing, and a woman playing a harp (fig. 65).
T he last work is the only one to have been illustrated in the literature.23 I t is also
likely that some of the paintings described above are those that Marcello Oretti
21. See Malvasia 1686, p. 50. For a discussion of Renaissance interiors of this type see Peter
Thornton, The Italian Renaissance Interior, 1400-1600, (Londoa- Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1991),
PP-35-44-
23. “In her essay and in the entry for the Annunciation (no. 9) Feigenbaum mentions the panels in
with Apollo, Diana, and male and female musicians, for a cantoria in Palazzo Fava (now in the
Ercolani Fava Semonetti collection, Rome) which she dates to 1584. Three of them were seen
by this reviewer in the 1960s. The presence of these panels, however ruined, would have been
instructive” (Schleier 1994, p. 262). Fortunately, in nis review of the Ludovico exhibition,
Erich Schleier published the photograph of one of the panels.
mentioned in the eighteenth century and that appear in a Fava inventory of i745.24
Oretti ascribed the lute player and harpist to Agostino and the “Apollo con un altra
figura” to the Carracci, the same attribution given to three pictures in the Fava
inventory that listed the Apollo and Diana and an “Orfeo che suona ilflauto". Posner
(1971) expressed his belief that they were “certainly works by Ludovico, not
Annibale, made around 1586/87” in an endnote .25 Feigenbaum, who catalogued the
paintings in her unpublished dissertation (1984), also attributed them to Ludovico
and proposed that they were contemporary to the Jason frescoes.26 They received
only a passing mention in Feigenbaum’s essay in the catalogue for the exhibition of
Ludovico’s pictures held in Bologna in 1993, although she did note in a catalogue
entry that “the panels now in the Hercolani Fava collection are all that is left after a
musician’s balcony [or cantoria} decorated by the Carracci was sawn apart and the
pieces sold in the mid-seventeenth century ”.27 Nowhere in Malvasia’s account did
he describe a cantoria. In fact, the original location is too low to have accommodated
a balcony. And what about the “pezzetti chiaroscuri” that Malvasia described; how did
they fit into Feigenbaum’s cantoria? The musical theme o f the paintings and their
execution on panel (an acoustical wall covering) do, however, suggest that the room
served as a musical chamber.
T he Woman Playing a Harp (fig. 65) wears a simple tunic and appears bust-
length in a shallow space defined by dark a wall. Her braided ponytail occurs, quite
frequendy, in sixteenth-century prints of classical subjects. Anatomically, the woman
shows the “puerilita” that Malvasia described, which undoubtedly explains why
Posner, Feigenbaum, and Eric Schleier all attributed the work to Ludovico. The
image reproduced here, is taken from an equally poor illustration published in the
Burlington Magazine in 1994 and while it hardly provides evidence for settling disputes
over connoisseurship, the panels would have to date from early in Annibale’s or
Ludovico’s career. T he problems presented by the Fava panels inevitably leads to a
conclusion that connoisseurs dread, namely the inability to make a conclusive
24. See Feigenbaum p. 212, under nos. 5-10.
25. Posner 1971, vol. 1, p. 160, n. 4.
26. Feigenbaum pp. 211-12, nos. 5-10.
27. Feigenbaum in Bologna 1993, p. 20, under cat. no. 9.
154
attribution. Finding no reason to doubt Malvasia’s opinion, I prefer his attribution to
Annibale. His sources o f information must have been Count Alessandro Fava who
would have learned about the attribution from his father or grandfather Filippo. As a
garzone working in Ludovico’s bottega during the mid- to late-i570S, Annibale would
have been assigned minor projects such as these panels, which would have been
executed in his master’s style.
T h e Ca m e r in o D ’E uropa
alvasia applied the same phrase to the frescoes in the Camerino cFEuopa
M that he used to characterize Agostino’s earliest prints: uper prova”. He

thus implied that Annibale tried to prove his abilities as a fresco painter
when he worked in the camerino. The over-all quality of the frieze is higher than the
Woman Playing a Harp, which is helpful in dating the frescos. T he cycle wraps
around the uppermost portion of the room, just above a comice that functions as a
“ledge” to hold the “pictures” and “sculpture” in the scheme. A quadro riportato,
occupying the center of each wall, shows a single episode from the Europa myth in a
Active black frame: Europa Feeding the Bull (fig. 66), Europa Leading the Bull (fig. 67),
Europa Sitting on the Bull (fig. 69), and the Rape o f Europa (fig. 71). Narrower panels
imitating bas-reliefs flank the central paintings. They show pairs of satyrs perched
back-to-back atop a vase against an architectural background with sculptural
moldings and a shell-shaped niche (fig. 76). Satyrs traditionally symbolized lechery,
bestial desire, and passionate behavior, so their presence here is thematically
appropriate. Colorful, lacy grotesques on a white ground fill the spaces between the
satyr panels and the feigned caryatids that twist and strain in the comers o f the frieze
as they “support” the simulated entablature (figs. 72-75).
No one now believes that Annibale painted the entire cycle by himself. In
1956, Arcangeli first suggested that Agostino painted Europa Feeding the Bull and
Europa Leading the B u l l Calvesi also ascribed the Rape o f Europa to Agostino;
whereas Ottani, with whom Posner agreed, gave all of the narrative scenes to
Annibale and the rest of the decorations to Agostino.^ Most recently, Ann
Sutherland Harris suggested that Ludovico had a major role in designing and painting
28. Arcangeli 1956, p. 33.
i55
the narratives scenes and that Agostino painted the grottesche and satyrs.3°
Ludovico’s role in composing the main figures seem, to me, certain. Sutherland
Harris attributed him a famous study in the collection of Walter Gemsheim (fig. 70),
thus establishing that he designed the penultimate scene. Scholars had long
ascribed the drawing, which is executed in black chalk drawing with white
heightening on faded blue paper, to Annibale.31 Sutherland Harris compared the
flat parallel hatching, which Annibale never seems to have used, to a study by
Ludovico (fig. 115) for the Flagellation o f Christ (Douai, Musee da la Chartreuse),
which scholars have dated variously to the early and mid-i58os.32 Even closer
parallels exist between the Gernsheim drawing and Ludovico’s chalk studies for the
Holy Family Under an Arch (fig. 17), which I date to ca. 1578, and the Lamentation o f
Christ (fig. 24), painted ca. 1579-80. One reason I believe the Holy Family Under an
Arch dates to the late seventies is its dependence on Andrea del Sarto’s Madonna del
Sacco (fig. 19). As I mentioned in my discussion of the print, Ludovico would have
seen Andrea’s painting in Florence before he went to Parma, Mantua, and Venice.
In a similar instance of adaptation, the group of Europa, the Bull, and her maid,
depends upon Paolo Veronese’s painting of the subject in the Palazzo Ducale,
Venice, which Ludovico could also have seen during his studioso corso.33 These
parallels suggest that the Europa frieze dates to ca. 1578/79, although experts have
preferred a date between 1582 and 1584.34
T he stoiy of Jupiter’s seduction of Europa, the daughter of King Agenor,

enjoyed great popularity in Italy during the sixteenth-century .35 Ovid and numerous
other ancient sources related how the god, having fallen in love with Europa,
29. Ottani 1966, pp. 25-40; and Posner 1971, vol. 2, p. 7, under cat. no. 14.
30. Harris 1994, p. 76; transL: Harris.
31. Exhibition o f Drawings o f the Bolognese School, exh. cat. by Walter Gernsheim (London: W.
Gemsheim, 1937), n.p., cat. no. 9, ilL
32. For the painting see Bologna 1993, pp. 15-16, cat. no. 7.
33. See Boschloo, 1974, vol. 1, p. 69 and vol. 2, pp. 176, n. 3, and p. 191, n. 6.
34. See Emiliani in Bologna 1984, p. 89, for a discussion of the date.
35. See Jane Davidson Reid, The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300-1990S, vol 1
(New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 421-23.
156
transformed himself into a lovely, white bull in order to entice and then abduct
Europa. Only the latter two scenes in the camerino, showing the seduction and rape
o f Europa, were commonly represented in sixteenth-century Italian painting. The
other two are extremely rare, although artists often incorporated them into the
backgrounds of the more common scenes. T he only other depiction of multiple
episodes from the myth as independent compositions seems to be a series of
detached frescoes by Bernardino Luini (1480/85-1532) formerly in the Casa Rabia,
Milan.36 Their original context is not known, however. Scholars have never asked
why the Carracci took such a detailed approach to the narrative, or, even, why the
subject was appropriate for the room but the explanation can be found in the various
decorative elements incorporated into the room’s decoration.
The elaborate painted ceiling in the Camerino d’Europa is the key element for
dating and understanding the frieze. Installed after the palace was renovated, the
original ceiling is still intact and is identical to the one in the adjacent camerino. In
his book on the Palazzo Fava, published in 1912, Lino Sighinolfi appreciated both
ceilings more than the frieze, writing:
Volgendo a sinistra e attraversando la sala grande [the Sala di Giasone],
cominciando dalla prima saletta, e degno di nota il firegio che Annibale
Carracci vi dipinse con vago e capriccioso omamento di grotteschi, in
ottimo stato cfi conservazione....Splendido e pure il soffitto composto di
venticinque compartimenti a cassettoni dipinti con rosoni a
rilievo...Nell’attigua saletta che riceve luce dalla finestre che guardano
in via Manzoni resta dell’antica decorazione un affresco, assai guasto dal
tempo che stava sopra un camino, e che rappresenta Cerbero latrante
all’entrata dell’Infemo, e il soffitto a cassettoni molto simile all’altro
sopra descritto .37
The reference to the fresco over the fireplace representing Cerbero (a

monstrous dog with three heads) guarding the entrance to hell is compelling since
one of the painted panels possibly by Annibale represented Orpheus who journeyed
into Hades in search o f Euridyice. He also joined the Argonauts on the quest for the
Golden Fleece and appears in the Jason cycle. Even more interesting from an
interpretive point of view is the photograph of the ceiling in the Camerino d’Europa
(fig. 77) that Sighinolfi reproduced. It shows a grid of twenty-five square panels inset
between beams running the length and width o f the rooms. Two types of motifs
36. The paintings are now in Berlin, Staatliche Museen, inv. nos. 21934
*57
appear in the recesses: thirteen panels contain leafy wreaths and twelve have
grottesche. The wreaths are rendered in naturalistic details, bound in eight places
with ribbons that trail into the margins of the composition, and yield a healthy crop
of fruits. They convey a sense of abundance, fruitfulness, and perpetuity.
There are two categories of grotesques painted on the remaining panels: one
group contains two bears (fig. 78); the other, a pair o f dogs (fig. 79), but the
compositions also differ in more significant respects. In those with bears, a female
figure stands at the center of the design, which has a thick arabesque for a based.
The woman seems to hold up a ring in her right hand. A pair o f birds hang upside-
down at her side just below the swags of fabric and, perhaps, lamps that are
suspended from above. And, in the upper corners, we see a scalloped fan. T he
other grottesche panels are more florid with dogs that appear to scale a symmetrical
vine sprouting from a cone at the lower center. They pursue a large dragon or harpy
perched on a drape above them. Birds also appear in the design, although it is
unclear whether they attack or kiss the dogs. While certain elements are vague in
the panels, understanding their meanings is not very difficult. The bears (or orst)
obviously represent Ginevra Orsi, whereas a dog appears in the stemma of the Fava
family (fig. 80). T he decorations obviously refer to the couple’s marriage and thus
commemorate their union in 1579.
It seems logical to suppose that the Europa cycle also relates to Filippo’s
marriage to Ginevra. The myth is a classic tale of love and conquest. Indeed, many
of the same elements in the ceiling appear in the ornamental panels in the frieze:
dogs and inverted birds (figs. 72 and 73), bears (fig. 76), and harpies (fig. 72). Other
details unique to the grottesche evoke themes of love, chastity, and lust. The building
that forms a central motif in one set of panels (fig. 74) seems to be based on an
illustration o f the Temple of Vesta in Vincenzo Cartari’s popular book Le imagttii de’ i
dei of 1556 (fig. 8 i).38 Elsewhere, the Cupids that capture the wind in billowing
canvases (fig. 75) recall depictions of Fortuna with her characteristic saiL They also
37. Sighinolfi 1912, pp. 26-27.
38. “Disse dunque Ovidio, cbe il tempio di Vesta in Roma, su prima casa regale di Noma, era tutto rotondo,
perrappresentareilglobo della terra, dentro del quale cost si conservava ilfuoco, come era conservato in
quel tempio inestinguibilmente, Et Festo scrive, ate Numa consecrd a Vesta un tempo rotondo, percbe la
credette essere la terra, cbesostenta la vita de gli buotmni: &percbe ella efa tta come una palla, voile cbe il
i 58
repeal images of Cupid catching the wind in a net that “signify the vanity o f love’s
vows”.39 Decoding all of the elements in the program will undoubtedly provide
further clues about the frieze. Are the ceilings in the Camerino d’Europa and the
adjacent chamber by one or more of the Carracci? Do the four types of grotesque
panels in the frieze constitute individual rebuses that relate more specifically to the
marriage o f the Fava and Orsi and to the myth of Europa? Finally, why does the
sequence of the narrative scenes read from right to left, or counterclockwise? These
questions are well beyond the scope of the present study, but should be considered
in the future.
As I mentioned earlier, scholars have questioned Malvasia’s opinion that

Annibale painted the whole frieze. Annibale’s authorship of the grottesche, especially,
have been questioned. Sutherland Harris wrote that “grotesque figures are so small
that stylistic analysis is problematic, but their neat, linear character matches the
engraver’s training of Agostino, better than that of Annibale, whose earliest
independent paintings are striking for their bold, unrefined character.”4° Indeed,
no published work by any of the Carracci comes even close to them. Two alternative
explanations may account for the situation, both of which can only be proposed as
possible solutions. First, it is possible that someone other than the Carracci painted
the designs, most likely an obscure artist named Lorenzo Magnanini who was
commonly called Fiorino. Malvasia wrote briefly about Fiorino in the Felsina, noting
that he was a painter, sculptor, and stuccoist; a member of the painter’s guild in 1569
where he was elected a consiglio in 1571 (his name does appear in a document of 1581).
He was exceptionally well-educated.41 In his recent article (2001) on a document
related to the Palazzo Magnani, Samuel Vitale reported that Fiorino was paid for his
work in that palace in 1580 and 1588.42 O f particular interest, too, is Malvasia’s
statement that he had works in the Palazzo Fava: “Del 1599. la cappella del Santissimo
Rosario nel confessio della Chiesa a basso, da hti sob anche dipinta, siccome altre fatture di
tempio suobavesse la medisimafigura” (Vincenzo Cartari, Le imagini con la spositione de’ i dei gli
anttcbi raccolteper Vincenzo Cartari [Venice: Francesco Marcolini, 1556}, pp. 199-200).
39. For the subject see Praz, voL 1, p. 174.
40. Harris 1994, p. 76; transl: Harris.
41. See Malvasia ed. 1841, vol 1, p. 252. His name appears is two documents related to the painter’s
guild in Malaguzzi Valeri 1897, PP- 311-312.
i59
riltevo, etutto tondo ne’nobilipalagi Favt, Zani, Magnani, esimili, che verranno facilm ent un
giomo da altri compitamente raccolte e descritte."4S In his list of painting by Annibale in
the Felsina, Malvasia described a “portrait of Gabriele Fiorini, the able sculptor who
in his time produced the fine mantelpieces with figures seen in the Fava and
Magnani palaces and throughout the city and who has been discussed along with his
father Giovanni Battista in the Life of Cesare Aretusi.”44 T he artist’s ceiling (ca.
1587) in the sala grande of the Palazzo Magnani is a dense mixture of griffins, putti,
arabesques, rosettes, and other ornaments enlivened with gilding and a leafy
effervescence, but they do not compare well to the panels in the Camerino d ’Europa.
Indeed, so little is known about Fiorino’s activity and work that further investigation
into his associations with the Carracci could prove more productive.
The other possibility worth considering is that Annibale painted the

decorations, keeping in mind that his earliest dated work, the Crucifixion w ith Saints
of 1583, postdates his studioso corso and the Europa frieze predates the trip.
According to Malvasia, drawing upon an earlier source, Annibale had painted a fresco
cycle in the cortile of the Collegio di Spagna (fig. 82), an institution founded in 1365 to
benefit Spanish students studying in Bologna. The college building itself, which still
stands today, was completed in 1367 and opened two years later.45 Malvasia
mentioned Annibale’s paintings in the Felsina and again in his guidebook to Bologna
published in 1668. “In the cloister of the ancient Collegio di Spagna,” the
biographer reported, “on the spandrels of the vaults o f the portico, some of the
frescoed heads of illustrious men and men of letters of the great nation, painted in
chiaroscuro while he was still a b o y .” 4<5 Two detached portaits, King Ferdtnando o f
Spain and Emperor Charles V , were exhibited in Bologna in 1984. Andrea Emiliani
attributed both paintings to Agostino without giving any specific reasons for doing so
and stated in the catalogue that the poor condition of the cycle made it impossible to
42. See Vitale 2001, p. 605.
43. Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 252.
45. For a discussion of the building see Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri, L ’arcbitettura a Bologna net
Rmasdmento (Rocca S. Casciano: L. Cappelli, 1899), pp. 27-29.
i6 o
say whether or not Annibale and Ludovico were also involved.47 Emiliani also
proposed a date of ca. 1585 for the paintings citing a series of payments made that
year to an artist named “Geronimo”. Moreover, the records specifically refer to “/
pittoricheeseguivano lepittorenelchiostrodelcortile”. Emiliani inferred that the “ip itto ri”
were the Carracci. But, it is equally possible that the “paintings” by these “painters”
are those by anonymous artists of the vaults of the cloister, not on the spandrels
facing the courtyard. Besides, Malvasia made it quite clear that frescoes were very
early works by Annibale so the payments of 1585 are too late to refer to early works by
him. T he two fragments exhibited in Bologna show the sitters in stiff, profile poses
and are flady modeled, perhaps because their were based on medals or prints o f the
sitters. Others in the cloister, like the portrait of Emperor Augustus (fig. 83), are
more accomplished and are rendered in three quarter poses and with more natural
expressions. In spite of being poorly preserved, marked qualitative differences exist
among the various portrait busts, and these are more probably by Annibale.
T he decorations on the spandrels between the open arches imitate marble or

stucco reliefs in grisaille on a blue background. Those on the upper story, consisting
of a winged triton and scrollwork, occupy the triangular spaces on either side o f the
oval portraits. Those on the lower spandrels (fig. 84) show a winged siren who holds
in her hands the stalks of elegant acanthus vines that sprout from her tail and unfurl
into the points of the arches. A similar, robust creature appears in two of the panels
in the Camerino d’Europa, where the compositions are intended to be read as
paintings rather than imitations of stucco. A closer examination of the decorative
ornaments in the Colleggio di Spagna and Camerino (TEuropa may clarify issues of
attribution, chronology, and iconography. Nonetheless, the evidence I presented
above warrants re-dating the Camerino to ca. 1579, which is to say before Annibale’s
studioso corso. Scholars agree that he painted part of the frieze, if not all of it, so the
suggestion that the Europa frieze dates from the late 1570s, rather than ca. 1583,
offers a new point of reference for reviewing his earliest, unanimously accepted
paintings and his formative activities.
47. “Recentemente, il complesso e stato sottoposto a prudente verifica; e dawero, nelle condizioni
attuali, non e possible affermare se, oltre ai due distaccati che rivelano la mano di Agostino, ne
esistano altri di mano di Annibale, o anche di Ludovico” (Emiliani in Bologna 1984, pp. cat. no.
u6a-b [as Agostino Carracci, ca. 1585D.
i6i
T h e Sa l a D i Gia s o n e
he events from the life of Jason depicted in the Sala di Giasone (fig. 85) are
T based on a variety of ancient and modem accounts of his search for the
Golden Fleece.48 Malvasia’s statement that Antonio Carracci was Filippo
Fava’s tailor is believable enough, as is his report that Antonio convinced the Count
that his sons should receive the commission to paint the sala grande in his palazzo
“for they had made extraordinary progress by studying abroad, and Ludovico had
nothing but praise for them; besides, since they wanted to work only for honor and
for the name they would make for themselves, they were ready to paint on any
terms.”49 T he biographer made two more points: that the palace “needed to have
friezes painted inside” because it was relatively new at the time and that the Jason
cycle was “one o f their first large public commissions [by the Agostino and Annibale}
after their return to Bologna” from Venice.5°
Malvasia stated that the Carracci were able to choose the subject of the fresco
and that the Jason saga offered them as many opportunities for expression as was
possible. Given that iconography of the Camerino d’Europa relates to the Fava/Orsi
marriage, Malvasia’s interpretation of the frieze, which no scholar has discussed,
deserves attention. H e understood the story in terms of betrothal and the merits of
fidelity, citing a fresco “extremely retouched by Ludovico” of the murder o f Creusa
over the fireplace, which no longer exists:
...one sees the burning gift of poisons (a treachery practiced also in
our own day) which the jealous and impassioned Medea uses her own
sons by Jason to deliver to Creusa, Jason’s new bride, thus making
them tne instruments of her murderous revenge. For wrongs done to
the bond of hofy matrimony usually bring an end to all earthly joys and
48. These sources include Latin texts that were also available in Italian translation such as Pindar’s
Odes; the Argpnautica by Valerius Flaccus and another version by Apollonius of Rhodes; and
Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Heroides. It seems that the M itboloaae by Natale Conti also served
as a textual source. In addition, the Carracci probably consulted illustrated examples of the
story, apparently Jacaues Gohorry’s Histoire de Jason et de la conquite de la toison dor (Paris:
Jacques Gohorry, 1563) with full-page engravings by Rend Boyvin after Ldonard Thiry. Steven
Ostrow first proposed that G ohonys book served as a source (“Note sugli affreschi con ‘Storie
di Giasone’ in Palazzo Fava,” Arte Antica Modema IX [i960], p. 69). In addition see Maria Luigia
Pagliani in Bologna 1984, pp. 253-73; and Clare Robertson, “I Carracci e l’invenzione: osservazioni
suQ’origine dei cicli afftescati di Palazzo Fava,” Accademia Clementina. A tti e Memorie X X X II
[i993l. PP- 271-24)-
49. Malvasia 1678, vol. r, p. 368 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 271; transl: Summerscale 2000, p. 102).
50. Ibid.
I
1
162 I
nothing less than this tragic end could be expected from a marriage i
based on such impure love and treachery as was seen when Medea
betrayed her own rather by giving herself over to a foreign usurper of
the lungdom. This seems to me to be the essential moral content
which the Carracci perhaps intended to draw from i t But moral
philosophers wanted to imply more specifically that the allegory of the
Golden Fleece has no other meaning but virtue of the strong man,
figured by Jason, assisted by reason, represented in the person of
Medea. That the bulls breathing fire from their nostrils are tne flames
of lust, which are driven into us by their iron feet, that the dragon is
pride, which dissuades us from submitting ourselves to the labors and
discomforts which are experienced on its account. And finally, the
sown teeth are the vices nurtured in us during our upbringing which
then grow and take up arms and so prevent us from pursuing glory
unless we cause them to confound themselves and extinguish
themselves by throwing into their midst the stone of the consideration
o f our origin and corporeal, earthly mass.51
Overall, Malvasia’s hypothesis agrees with a report by Marin Sanudo, a Venetian

diarist, who saw a “splendid memaria about Jason’s quest for the golden fleece” at a
large public party in the Campo San Paolo celebrating the marriage of a Venetian
nobleman in 1507.52 But the frieze yields to multiple interpretations, including the
fact that the Carracci, descendants of tailors, chose to depict the saga of antiquity’s
most valuable garment.
lin o Sighinolfi’s account of the Palazzo Fava published in offers another

insight into the possible meaning of the frescoes. H e described four marble busts
above each of the doors in the Sala.53 They are now missing, but Sighinolfi
reproduced photographs of each of them. The earliest, dated 1417, represented
51. Malvasia 1678, vol 1, p. 372 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 273; transL: Summerscale 2000, pp. 107-
ro8).
52. Sanudo wrote, “On this day the Compagnia degli Eterni {Eternals} gave a party on a raised
platform in Campo San Polo to celebrate the wedding of ser Luca da Leze to the daughter of
the late ser Zuan Batista Foscarini. It lasted until four hours after sunset {about 10:00 pm}.
There was a splendid memoria about Jason's quest for the golden fleece. It should be noted
that at the dinner hour, when I was present, about 4000 ducats, part of the bride’s dowry, was
brought in six basins. The first one contained gold {coins}, the rest {silver} coins. Well done,
for those who can afford it!” (Patricia H. Labalme and Laura Sanguined White, “How to (And
How N ot To) Get Married in Sixteenth-Century Venice (Selections from the Diaries of
Marin Sanudo,” Rettnaissance 2>yarterfy, L
II(1999), pp. 43 and n. 12.
53 “La sala seguente {the Sala di Giasone} e assai piu ampia delle due precedenti e riceve luce da
due finestre, e su ciascuna delle quattro porte si trovano i busti rappresentanti alcuni personaggi
illustri della famiglia Fava, di cui abbiamo gia dato notizia” (Sighinolfi 1912, p. 26).
163
Guglielmo Fava, a Bolognese senator (fig. 86).54 Another depicted Nicolo Fava (d.
1439) and was inscribed “1430” (fig. 87).55 A third showed Pellegrino Fava and was
made in 1543 (fig. 88).56 And the last, chronologically, was an effigy of Alessandro
Fava57, who died fighting against the Turks in Jerusalem in 1572 (fig. 89). All of the
statues may well pre-date the Jason cycle and the possibility should be considered
that they had been (or were intended to be) in the room when the Carracci painted
the cycle. Perhaps some associations existed between Alessandro Fava’s service in
the Holy Land and Jason’s exploits in the Middle East. Nonetheless, the heroic
tenor of the myth inevitable aggrandized the Fava family by sheer visual display, just
as the decorations in the two cameritti struck personal cords.
The frieze itself consists of eighteen horizontal quadri riportati that appear to
rest on a ledge running along the upper walls of the room. Between each scene is a
trompe fa il divinity—twenty-two in all—“carved” of white marble and standing before
pilasters of red stone. Their iconographic relationship with the scenes they flank is
still unclear. Some hold gold or bronze attributes, such as Fame sporting her trumpet
and Venus grasping a golden apple. The statues also seem to function as supports for
the gilded and coffered comice (also a painted illusion) that runs above their heads.
Since the narrative scenes each have a simple black “frame” the ensemble looks like
a sequence of mythological oil paintings and choice, antique sculpture displayed in a
high gallery. Numerous prototypes could have served as models for the statues
including a popular series of prints o f mythological gods and goddesses first
published in 1526 after designs by Rosso Fiorentino (B.XV.77-79.24-34). The divinities
appear in niches and strike a wide range of dramatic poses. The engraving of Jupiter
(fig. 90) show the God straddling an eagle and leering forward in a bold contrapuntal
pose not unlike Agostino’s figure (fig. 9i).58
54. Ibid., pp. 2-3.
55. Ibid., pp. 2-5.
56. Ibid., p. 6.
57. Ibid., p. 7.
58. Gian Giacomo Caraglio (ca. 1505-1565) engraved the series. See Madeline Cirillo Archer, The
IllustratedBartscb, 28 Commentary (New York: Abaris, 1995) pp. 116-18, nos. 2802.024-043, ill.;
who lists a dozen copies.
The Carracci painted Jason’s adventures using different techniques and
styles, making it quite clear that this fictitious collection of pictures contains works
by several artists. Narrative differences exist among them; some quadri show a single
event from the myth such as the Construction o fthe Argo (scene V) universally given to
Annibale ,59 whereas others illustrate two or even three episodes at once, for instance
the Argo Transported Across the Libyan Desert and the Battle with the Harpies and W ild
Beasts (scene VII, fig. 93), which is also always ascribed to Annibale.60 Horizons vary
as the story unfolds, figure types range from stocky to lithe, and the highly
descriptive brushwork in some compositions contrast with a more impressionistic
rendering in others. The different technical approaches to painting appear most
dramatically when comparing the identical backgrounds in two scenes set within the
same arena: Jason Taming the Bulls and Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth (scene XI, fig. 94) and
Jason F ittin g the Warriors Bom o f the Dragon’s Teeth (scene XII, fig. 95). Obviously,
everything about these details suggests that two different artist painted them, from
the kind of abbreviations used to render minor figures to the approaches to
rendering trees and canopies. Even the incision marks made when the designs were
transferred from cartoons are dissimilar. But several art historians have attributed
both pictures to Ludovico61 whereas Arcangeli gave Scene XI to Annibale.62 I
strongly believe that neither Annibale nor Ludovico painted Jason Taming the Bulls
and Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth (scene XI). The rich, description brushwork; egg-
shaped heads; the painting o f foliage; and the careful incising in the fresco are
identical to those ia.Jason Seizsngtbe GoldenFleece (scene XIII), which all scholars have
ascribed to Agostino (fig. 96).63
The above comparisons raise an important point. Issues of authorship hardly

interested the early biographers who greatly admired the artists’ inventiveness and
were content knowing that each of the Carracci contributed his share. It was only
59. See Emiliani in Bologna 1984, pp. 105-107, for a summary of the scholarly opinions.
60. Ibid., pp. 109-m, for a summary of the scholarly opinions.
61. See Mahon 1957, p. 271, n. 36; Ottani 1966, pp. 48-49; and Emiliani in Bologna ^84, pp. 122 and
125-26.
62. See Arcangelli 1956, p. 29, who proposed that Ludovico had designed Scene XI and that
Annibale had executed it.
63. See Emiliani in Bologna ^84, p. 128, for a summary of the scholarly opinions.
I ;
i
165
about forty years ago that scholars started speculating in writing about who painted
what. Art historians assume that Agostino painted most or all of the termini because <
Faberio praised the artist’s ability to paint trompe toeil and cited the figure o f Jupiter
“in the house o f Signori Favi, where many people climbed up to touch the figure with
their hands, because it appeared to them to be a sculpted relieP .64 Judging from
Malvasia’s published account, Ludovico worked on the frescoes more than his
cousins did: “Ludovico sketched lots of things for them, attended to the
arrangement and disposition of the inventions, while also correcting and improving
the work...” 65 Ludovico also reportedly retouched the first five scenes, the
implication being that Annibale and/or Agostino painted them: “And in these five
scenes, since they were the first to catch one’s eye on entereing the room, Ludovico’s
assistance and retouching are evident [faiuto, e il ritocco di Ludovico], since not trace of
the immaturity sometimes found in the others is discemable here.66 The nature of
Ludovico’s involvement accords with his status as the eldest and most experienced
painter of the trio. In fact, in Le Pitture di Bologna (1586) Malvasia referred to the
commission as the “first undertaking in fresco of Agostino and of Annibale Caracci
[j*f] with the direction and help of Ludovico. ”67 But neither in his Bolognese
guidebook nor in the Felsina pittrice did Malvasia attribute any of the narratives to a
specific artist.
A portion of Malvasia’s notes on the Jason cycle (some thirteen manuscript

pages) survives in which he gave the Construction o f the Argp and the adjacent terminal
figure, Diana, to Annibale.68 All historians have likewise attributed the Construction
o f the Argo to Annibale, unaware of Malvasia’s statement. Scholars unanimously give
three stylistically similar quadri to Annibale: The Funeral o f the Infant Jason (scene I),
the Argo Transported Across the Libyan Desert and the Battle o f the Harpies and W ild Beasts
64. Faberio in Bologna 1603, p. 33-34 (rpt. in Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 428 {Malvasia 1841 ed, voL 1, p.
308D.
65. Malvasia 1678, voL 1, p. 367 (1841 ed, vol 1, p. 271 [trans.: Summerscale 2000, p. 105D.
67. “pritna operazione a fresco di Agostino e di Annibale Caracci {tic] colla direzione ifm uto d i Ludovico"
(Malvasia 1686, p. 49).
68. aio dico cbe questd e d’Annibalo [n

r]”(Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale M
S.16, folios 140 recto and
verso; folios 139 recto-145 recto are devoted to the Jason cycle).
166
(scene VII, fig. 93), and the Meeting o f Jason and King Cyzicus (scene IX).^9 Nearly
forty years ago, Francesco Arcangeli published a lengthy article in which he
attributed to Annibale three scenes from later in story, but specialists have since
recognized all of them as characteristic of Ludovico. These are the Meeting o f Jason
and Medea (scene X ); Jason Taming the Bulb and Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth (Scene XI),
and the Incantation o f Medea (scene XVI, fig. 30)7°
The remaining frescoes in the scheme—those not assignable to

Annibale—make up more than half of the total number. Using the Jove as an
example of Agostino’s style, it is possible to ascribe to him other termini. Among
them are Mars and Saturn, each of which appear to occupy real space with their
finely “carved” details and beautifully inventive poses. They have clear, solid forms
and realistic proportions defined with subde gradations of tone and shape-edged
contours. Two of the narrative scenes in the latter half of the cycle share these same
stylistic and technical features and are always given Agostino: Jason Seizing the Golden
Fleece (scene X II, fig. 96) and Jason Giving the Golden Fleece to Pelias (scene XV).7 1
M ost of the narrative paintings, however, differ markedly from those ascribed
to Agostino and Annibale respectively. Scholars almost unanimous assign to
Ludovico a total of nine scenes—that is, half of all those in the series. Two of these,
in my opinion, can be weeded out on stylistic grounds and reattributed to Agostino.
But whether the true number by Ludovico is nine, seven, or some compromise,
Malvasia was surely right to suggest that he made a major contribution to the project.
All scholars agree that Ludovico painted the Rejuvenation ofAeson (scene XVII), the
penultimate scene in the series, and most ascribe to him the abutting quadri: the
Incantations o f Medea (scene XVI) and Rejuvenation o f the Lamb and Killing o f Pelias
(scene XVTII).?2 This group, in turn, resembles some earlier narratives, such as the
Sacrifice o f the Black Bull (scene VIII) and Jason Fighting the Warriors Bom o f the Dragon’s
69. See Emiliani in Bologna 1984, pp. 95-95 (for Scene I), no-111 (for Scene V II), and 115-17 (for
Scene IX ), for a summary of the scholarly opinions.
70. See Arcangeli 1957, p. 29; and for the revised opinions in favor of Ludovico see Emiliani in
Bologna 1984, pp. 119-20 (for Scene X ), 122 (for Scene X I), and 136-37 (for Scene XVI).
71. See Emiliani in Bologna 1984, pp. 125-26 (for Scene X II) and 133-34 (f°r Scene XV), for a summary
of th e scholarly opinions.
167
Teeth (scene XII, fig. 95)-73 Taken together, these works betray Ludovico’s artistic
roots in the late Maniera. The most characteristic signs of Ludovico’s authorship
include the tall, slim figure types, which are wanting anatomically and are stiffly
posed, the severe spatial recessions, and the incongruous way that multiple episodes
o f the narrative have been integrated into a single scene.
Generally historians believe that Annibale painted most or all of the first wall
of frescoes (including the terminal figures) in addition to two of the four quadri on
the second wall. Thus, a surprising consensus now exists among critics: Annibale
was actively involved in decorating the first half of the series, but apparently had no
role in p a in tin g the rest. Given what is known about the commission and about
Annibale’s other activities, it is fairly easy to explain his limited contributions to the
Fava cycle. Annibale completed the Crucifixion—his first public
commission—sometime in 1583, and agreed to paint the Baptism o f Christ, in October
of that year. T he documents indicate that Annibale was at work on the painting in
April 1584 and finished sometime in the following year.74 I t would appear that
Annibale concentrated on painting the altarpiece after October 1583. Indeed, it
seem unlikely that he would have taken on the project at all if he had not satisfied, or
nearly fulfilled, his other commitments both in the Palazzo Fava and for the
Machiavelli family who commissioned the Crucifixion. T he most plausible scenario is
that Annibale, having perhaps finished the Crucifixion early in 1583, worked in the
Sala di Giasone that spring and summer, and then left the project to paint the
Baptism, which compares so well with his frescoes that the two commissions must
date close to one other. W ith Annibale preoccupied, Ludovico and Agostino could
have finished the fneze in 1584.
T h e drawings for the Jason cycle support the distribution of labor and the
chronology that I described above.75 Thus far, only thirteen studies for the frieze
72. Ibid., pp. 141-42 (for Scene X V ll), 136-37 (for Scene XVI); and 144-45 (for Scene X V III), for a
summary of the scholarly opinions.
73. Ibid., pp. 113 (for Scene V I 11) and 125-26 (for Scene XVl), fo r a summary of the scholarly opinions.
74. See Boschloo 1974, voL 2, p. 179, n. 6.
75. My intention here is to examine the various drawings th at scholars have associated with the
Camerino eTEuropa and Sala di Giasone in light of new discoveries. Over the course of my
research, which I began officially in November 1992, Ann Sutherland Harris has published and
168
have been published: two for The Funeral o f the Infant Jason (scene l)76, usually
ascribed to Annibale; two for Pelias Proceeding to the Oracle (scene 111) 77; five for Pelias
Sacrificing to Neptune (scene IV) 78; four for The Meeting o f Jason and King Cyzicus (scene
IX).79 One also exists for a never-realized scene, which I mention below. The
Carracci employed various media to work out the individual scenes within the frieze,
roughly sketching the general compositions in pen and ink and then producing
refined drawings using pen and ink and brush with wash over a chalk under drawing
to describe finer details. A drawing in the Louvre representing a scene from the
Jason myth not included in the finished frieze documents this earliest phase in the
design process.80 Executed only in pen and gray ink with gray wash, and mostly
likely by Agostino, until recently it had been associated with a landscape painting of
a country fete attributed to Annibale in Marseilles that Clovis Whitfield correctly
acknowledged some of these finds in articles and lectures where she presented her own views
on attributional problems. O ther scholars, among them Marzia Faietti, Catherine Loisel-
Legrand, Clare Robertson, and Alessandro Zacchi, have responded in print to opinions that I
had expressed directly to them or on the mounts of drawings. Thus I have had several
opportunities to learn how specialists received my proposals in a field distinguished by
controversy. Given the history of Carracci scholarship, it would come as no surprise to me
that specialists will question some of my proposals. But in addition to examining the autograph
status of drawings, I will use them to understand the artists’ working methods and creative
processes, beginning with drawings for friezes in general, and then moving on to compositional
studies, drawings for individual figures, and concluding with sketches for smaller details.
76. Boy Carrying an Urn and a Study o fa Hand (a study for a boy in the procession), red and white
chalk, 277 x 192 mm, Oxford, Ashinolean Museum (see Emiliani in Bologna 1984, p. 95, and p. 146,
cat. no. 88R, ilL); and Boy Carrying an Urn and a Study c f His Profile (study for a boy in the
recession), black and white cnalk on grey-green paper, 256 x 209 mm, Windsor Castle, Royal
E
ibrary, inv. no. 1937 (see Wittkower 1952, p. 150, cat. no. 370, pi. 47).
77. Two Standing Men in Oriental Costumes (study for Pelias and the High Priest), red chalk, 377 x
219 mm., Budapest, Sv^pmuveszeti Muzeum, inv. no. 1837 (see Washington 1999, pp. 56-57, cat.
no. 4); and ToungMan Blowing a Horn (verso, Study for a parading horn player), black chalk, 301 x
220 mm, Oslo, Nasjonalgalleriet, inv. no. B.15188 (see Feigenbaum 1990, pp. 151, fig. 5 [as
Ludovico]).
78. Toutb Carrying an Old Man on His Back (study for Jason carrying Hera), red chalk, 429 x 232 mm.,
Florence, Gabinetto disegni e stampe degli Uffizi, inv. no. 12392 F. (see Bologna 1984, p. 148, cat.
no. 91R, ill. [as Annibale]); Boy Proffering a Bowl (recto, study for a boy assisting the High
Priest), Standing Man Holding an OilLamp (verso, study the High Priest's assistant),charcoal and
white chalk on bluish paper, 379 x 192 mm, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Compositional Study,
pen and brown ink and grey wash on light brown paper, 207 x 403/405 mm, Paris, Louvre,
Cabinet des Dessins, inv. no. RF 607, Compositional Study, pen and ink (of unknown color) with
brush and gray wash squared with black chalk, 423 x 567 mm
79. CompositionalStudy (recto and verso), recto: pen and brown ink, squared in red and black chalk
on cream paper, verso: black chalk, 253 x 314 mm, Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung
Munchen, inv. no. 6823! Orpheus Holding a Lyre (recto) Standing Warrior (verso), black and white
chalk on rough, cream (faded blue) paper, National Gallery or Canada, Ottawa, inv. no. 9891.
169
identified as by Agostino in 1988.81 In fact, the study shows Jason and Hera on the
bank of the Anaurus River.82 Stylistically, a double-sided composition study in
Munich (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, figs. 99 and 100) for the Meeting o fJason
andKingAeetes (scene IX) is quite different from the Louvre sketch .83 Long ascribed
to Ludovico, an attribution I agree with, the drawing was recently shown in
Washington as a work by Annibale despite the complete absence of comparable
drawings like it by him. Daniele Benati described the sheet as a “modello—the quick
study that would have been shown to the patron and transferred to the cartoon.” Yet
a more highly finished study (Wisconsin, private collection; fig. 101) survives for the
Pelias Sacrificing to Neptune (scene IV).84 The former drawing is squared for transfer,
drawn in pen and ink with the details carefully worked out in brush and wash. It
closely corresponds to the fresco, such that it could have been used as a guide to
paint from and is more typical of a modello than the sketch in Munich. It obviously
post-dates a looser composition study for the same scene in the Louvre, which
represents an intermediate stage in the conception of the scene like the drawing in
Munich 85
Perhaps the pairs of drawings, each one for the same figure in the Jason cycle,
are the most interesting because they demonstrate how much care the artists took in
preparing to painting. They are all drawn on large sheets o f white or blue paper using
either red or black chalk, respectively. Two quite different studies survive for the
Bacchus, a terminal figure attributed to Annibale. A long-lost, red chalk drawing (fig.
103), formerly belonging to Franz Koenigs (1881-1941), resurfaced recently in the
Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. It was publicly exhibited in 1995 and
80. Paris, Musde du Louvre, Department des Arts Graphiques, pen and dark gray ink with brush
and gray wash, 197 x 360. See Sutherland Harris 2000, pp. 402-403, ill
81. See Whitfield 1988, pp. 78-80.
82. Sutherland Harris 2000, p. 420, n. 37, who credited me with the identification of the subject.
83. Inv. no. 6823. See Washington 1999, pp. 58-61, cat. no. 5, ill., for the most complete
bibliography.
84. Pen and ink (of unknown color) with brush and gray wash squared with black chalk, 423 x 567
mm. See Loisel-Legrand in Paris 1994, p. 65, under cat. no. 46, ill. (as by Annibale); and
Sutherland Harris 2000, pp. 400-402, and ng. 10 (as by Agostino).
l"JO
identified then as a “copy with minor alterations” after the fresco by Annibale “or his
workshop”.**6 The location of the second drawing (fig. 104) is presently unknown
having last been recorded in the Kislinger collection, Vienna (ca. 1937).**? I know
the drawing from a black and white photograph in the Frick Art Reference Library,
N ew York filed under Annibale’s name. N either the medium (either red or black
chalk) nor the sheet’s measurements are known.
The suggestion that the example in Moscow copies the fresco is untenable;
the subtle differences between the two works, in fact, support the drawing’s
attribution to Annibale as does the contour drawing of an infant and exceptional
portrait of a man on the recto (fig. 103), which bears the compelling pen and ink
inscription: diArm iballCarrazzioetsuoritratto 14.3 {the numbers are most likely shelf
marks}. Stylistically, the plump baby resembles one of two putti in a drawing that
Nicholas Turner identified as preparatoiy for Annibale’s Baptism o f Christ (San
Gregorio, Bologna) finished in 1585.®® The identification of the man as Annibale is
too complex to address here but the fine hatching and cross-hatching used in the
portrait and the Bacchus are identical to that Annibale employed in drawing for the
Butcher's Sbop%9 and for an angel playing a violin in the Baptism o f Christ (fig. io 6 ). 9°
85. Paris, Musee du Louvre, Department des Arts Graphiques, inv. no. pen and dark gray ink, with
faint traces of brush and gray wash, 197 x 360 mm. See Loisel-Legrand in Paris 1904, pp. 64-65,
cat. no. 46, ill-
86. Five Centuries o fEuropean Drawings. The Former Collection o f Franz Koenigs, exh. cat, Moscow,
Pushkin Museum of State Museum of Fine Arts (Milan, Leonardo Arte, 1995), p. 201, cat. no. 153,
ill. The recto was illustrated in Albert J. Elen, Missing Old Master Drawings from the Franz
Koenig Collection: Claimed by the State o fThe Netherlands, with the assistance orjacob Voorthuis
(The Hague: SDU Publishers; Netherlands Office for Fine Arts, 1989), p. 179, no. 329, ill (as by
Annibale Carracci).
87. Inscriptions on the verso of the photograph at the Frick Art Reference Library, New York,
read: Annibale Carracci / (early drawing under Correggio’s / influence)', c. 1935 belong- to Kislinger,
Vienna / (m alefig.fora baccbanale). A stamp reads: EXH K E M A ISO N NOV 4 1955.
88. Nicholas Turner, “Two Unpublished Drawings by Annibale Carracci in the British Museum,”
Burlington Magazine CXXXV1I (1995), p. 609, ng. 36. Even closer analogies exist with another
drawing ofputti in the British Museum (fig. 105) that is unpublished, but is almost certainly by
Annibale (Inv. no. Pp. 2-107). The shading around the belly is particularly similar in Dotn
sheets, and a drawing in Florence for a lost painting of a Madonna and Child (Fondazione Home,
inv. no. 5569. The inscription reads: bambino lattante alia Maddalena / dipinta da Annibale
Carracci in Bologna / nella contrada d i S. Isaia nella / Botegz dun scarpinello; quale boi nelle demolizione
della Fa- / bricafi tagliava, efattone un / quadra. See Disegni della Fondazione Home in Firenze, exh.
cat. by Licia Ragghianti Collobi, Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, {Florence: La Strozzina, 1963}, pp.
24-25).
89. Windsor Castle, Royal Library, inv. no. 2215. See Washington 1999, pp. 48-50, cat. no. 1, ill.
171
Unlike the study in Moscow by Annibale, the one formerly in Vienna has a
bold, gritty quality that emphasizes the model’s plasticity that is characteristic of
Ludovico. While the face seems eerie and made up, the contour lines and bold
passages of shading express a wonderful sense of volume. The same dense
chiaroscuro modeling appears in a red chalk drawing in the Uffizi9J and a double
sided study in National Gallery of Canada.92 Two more studies by Ludovico for the
Pelias Sacrificing to Neptune (scene IV, fig. 101) are on the recto and verso o f a sheet in
the Ashmoleon Museum (Oxford, figs. 107 and 108), which I discovered in 1993 and
which Ann Sutherland Harris subsequently published with my consent.93 O f the
surviving drawings for figures, most are, in my opinion, by Ludovico. In th e unusual
case of the two studies for the Bacchus, by Annibale and Ludovico respectively, it was
Ludovico’s design that was used to paint from. His study, although “rawer” than
Annibale’s, shows the model in a view that is slightly more foreshortened, the
contours more sinuous, and the lighting more dramatic, such that the painted version
reads well from the floor below.
Carracci scholars are already familiar with a large drawing in the Szepmuveseti
Muzeum (Budapest, fig. 109) of two men in exotic costumes preparatory for Pelias
(on the right) and a high priest in the foreground o f the Procession o fPelias to the Oracle
(scene III, fig. iio ).94 Daniele Benati questioned this connection when the work
90. London, British Museum, inv. no. 1895-9-15-723. See Washington 1999, pp. 64-65, cat. no. 7, ill
9r. Inv. no. 12392 F. Catherine Johnston made the identification and reaffirmed th e drawings
traditional attribution to Annibale (See Catherine Johnston “Review of Gliaffresci dei Carracci tn
palazzo Fava by Anna Ottani,” Burlington Magazine CIX (1967), p. 597 and pL 21; ibid., II Seicento e
il Settecento a Bologna (Milan: Fabbri, 1971), p. 82 and pL VIII; ana Emiliani in Bologna 1984, p. 148,
cat. no. 9rR, ill. Gail Feigenbaum seemed to express the opinion that the drawing could be by
Ludovico, but she illustrated it as by Annibale (see Feigenbaum r990, pp. 150-51, fig. 3).
Catherine Loisel-Legrand proposed an attribution to Agostino that Ann Sutherland Harris
rightly found unconvincing (see, respectively, Catherine Xoisel-Legrand, “Dessins de Jeunesse
des Carracci: Ludovico, Annibale ou Agostino?,” Paragone XCVI (1995), p. 8; and Sutherland
Harris 2001, p. 421, a 46).
92. Inv. no. 9818. See A Selection o f Italian Drawings from North American Collections, exh. cat. by
Walter Vitzthum, Regina, Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery—Montreal Museum o f Fine Arts
(Regina: ap., 1970), p. 42, no. 32, ill. (as by Annibale); and Bolomese Drawings in North America,
exh. cat. by Mimi Cazort and Catherine Johnston, Ottawa, National Gallery of A rt (Ottawa:
National Museums of Canada, 1982), pp. 67-68, no. 25, ill (as by Annibale).
93. Sutherland Harris 2001, pp. 404-406, figs. 13 and 14. T hty had been previously attributed to
Giacomo Cavedone, for which see Karl Theodore Parker, Catalogue ofthe collection o f Drawings in
tbeAsbmolean Museum, voL 2, Italian Schools (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956), p. 427, no. 817.
94. Inv. no. 1837.
172
was exhibited in Washington D. C. in 1999.95 Benati argued that the differences

between the study and the painting were too great to confirm any relationship. In
the drawing, the model extends his right hand outward, looks at the viewer, and
wears turban. “Even with the doubts expressed above about the possibilities of
linking the drawing to the frescoes in the Palazzo Fava,” Benati wrote, “this sheet
constitutes the only basis for arguing the theory—quite believable nonetheless—that
all three Carracci collaborated on the planning of the panels in the cycle.” He
concluded that if the sheet were related to the fresco “it would have to have been by
Annibale for a panel that was entrusted to the eldest, Ludovico”. The flaws in
Benati’s logic are almost too obvious to review, but important enough to clarify. First,
the differences between the drawing and the fresco are not “considerable”, since
other figures in the painting wear turbans and artists often altered drapery studies
and poses while they painted. Moreover, the “theory” that the Carracci worked in
collaboration is a historical “fact” that Malvasia, at least, held to be true. Benati’s
statement that Annibale entrusted work to Ludovico is a reversal of their
documented relationship. And, finally, a number of drawings for the Jason cycle
demonstrate the freedom with which they exchanged ideas, as with the drawings for
Bacchus.
An impressive drawing at W indsor Castle representing a young man wearing a

heavy mantel suggests that the Carracci made changes as they painted (fig. i i i ) . 96
It, too, is a study for the Pelias in the scene mentioned above. The model strikes
the same pose as the one in the drawing in Budapest, but the folds of the garment
correspond very closely to the finished painting. The alterations in the figure’s
gesture and the posing of the head were either worked out in a third (and
presumably final drawing) or on the plaster surface. The flashy shading in the sheet
at Windsor that indicates it is by Ludovico as is its Hungarian predecessor. The
newly recognized drawing at W indsor Castle is laid down on another sheet of paper,
but when it is held up to light, another chalk study is visible, upside down, on its
95. See Benati in Washington 1999, pp. 56-57, cat. no. 4 (as by Annibale Carracci), for a complete
bibliography. Emiliani proposed an attribution to Agostino (see Bologna 1984, p. 100). Some
scholars have suggested tnat the drawing relates to Pelias Sacrificing to Neptune (Scene IV),
however, the sheer at Windsor (cited below) discounts this idea.
96. Royal Collection, Inv. no. 2077. See Wittkower 1952, pp. 159-60, no. 467 (as studio of Annibale),
who associated the study with the drawing in Budapest without connecting them to the Jason
frieze.
*73
verso. It shows a nude man lying on his stomach and boldly foreshortened, his head
nearest the foreground. H e sports a pair of wings like an angel, although he
represents Icarus, for reasons that I will soon explain. The contours of the figure
have been incised, so that the markings (with traces of chalk in them) are visible on
the recto. The very same figure, but lacking wings, appears on the recto of a sheet
attributed to Ludovico in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (fig. 112),
together with four studies o f hands two of which are effaced.97 Drawn in black chalk,
it shows signs of incising and apentimento along the man’s right forearm and biceps.
These features prove that the figure was transferred using the drawing at Windsor,
where the right arm is positioned like the pentimento in the drawing in London. Two
old inscriptions on the study given to Ludovico further support this observation.
One, at the very top o f the sheet, reads: Icaro di mano di Lod. Caracci, indicating that
the subject is Icarus, despite the man’s wingless state. This would suggest that
whomever wrote the comment knew of the drawing at Windsor. T he second
annotation, perhaps by the same hand, is even more explicit about the relationship
between the two designs in stating: Lod0. Caracci / doppo visto Atmibale.98 A logical
conclusion is that the verso of the Windsor drawing is by Annibale. T he recto of the
drawing in the Victoria and Albert Museum contains a figure of a toppling man (fig.
113), which Babette Bohn published as a preparatory study for Phaeton in Ludovico’s
Fall o f Phaeton, a detached fresco in the Istitutio per la storia di Bologna of ca. 1596-
99.99 Scholars have agreed with Bohn’s proposal, despite the considerable
differences between the two models (both in terms of their poses and builds) and
the pair o f molting -wings on the figure in the drawing. However, the drawing dates
97. Inv. no. Dyce J197-. See Peter Ward Jackson, Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogues: Italian
Drawings, R 17 -sir Century (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1980), pp. 32-33, no. 657,
ill.
98. Ward Jackson, unaware of the connection between the two works, was justifiably skeptical
about the inscription, he wrote: “T he studies do not appear to be connected with any surviving
or recorded work by Lodovico or Annibale Carracci. In spite of the reference to Icarus in one
of the inscriptions on the verso, the main figure on the recto cannot be definitely identified as
Icarus, since it is accompanied by another falling figure, which does not seem to be an
alternative study but looks as though it were intended to be seen in the background, at a
distance. The studies may have been for the fallen angels” (fbid., p. 32, under cat. no. 647).
99. Bohn 1984, pp. 417 and 425, no. 15, p i 17. For the painting see Bologna 1993, pp. 105-107, ill. In
his catalogue or Bolognese drawirigs published in 1955, Otto Kurz included an exceptional black-
chalk study of a male nude with the anonymous sheets (fig. 114). Inv. no. 3392. See Otto Kurz,
Bolognese Drawings oftbe X V II & XVIII Centuries in the Collection o fHer Majesty the Qt/een a t Windsor
Castle (London: Phaidon, 1955), p. 152, no. 797. It is, I believe, by Ludovico, who used the same
model in a famous study at Chatsworth (fig. 115).
174
to ca. 1584, when the Carracci seem to have been working on a commission for an
Icarus that is lost or was never realized.
T he Carracci must have made many studies for the Jason Cycle judging by
the compositional and figural drawings that survive for later projects. Only one
published example at Windsor Castle, which I attributed to Ludovico during a visit to
the Royal Library in 1993, could qualify as such.100 Another drawing there, a Head o f
a Bearded Old M an (fig. 116), is also connected with the Sala di Giasone. Executed with
red and white chalks on gray-green paper, I believe the portrait-like drawing is for an
observer in Procession ofPelias to the Oracle (scene III, fig. no). Wittkower catalogued
the sheet as in the “manner of Agostino”101 but I would attribute it to him based on
its similarities to a hitherto unknown preparatory study (London, Courtauld Institute
Galleries; fig. 117) definitely by Agostino for the Adoration o f the Shepherds (Bologna,
San Bartolomeo di Reno).102
T he ever-growing number of drawings related to the Jason cycle reconfirm

Malvasia’s statement that Ludovico sketched complete compositions and individual
figures for Agostino and Annibale to paint from. In fact, no drawings exist for any of
the scenes Ludovico painted himself. Did he use preparatory drawings that are now
lost or did he work out the compositions when he made the cartoons or draw directly
on the plaster surface without intermediary drawings? These questions remain to be
answered conclusively. Ludovico’s major role in shaping the appearance of the final
work, especially the paintings by Annibale and Agostino is, I believe, weil-
documented. Filippo Fava’s long association with the Carracci, provided th e artists
with a steady income, however small, and the chance to develop collectively. This
lead to other commissions in Bologna and abroad. In fact, Jason’s search for the
Golden Fleece proved to be a golden opportunity for Ludovico and his cousins.
100. See Wittkower 1952, p. 150, cat. no. 370, pL 47 (as by Annibale); Ostrow 1964, p. 88, fig. 10 (as by
Annibale); Posner 1971, vol. 2, p. 8, cat. no. 15/ (as by Annibale); Bologna 1984, p. 95, ana p. 146, cat.
no. 89R, ill. (as by Annibale); and Sutherland Harris 1994, p. 73, n. 10, who agreed with me that
the drawing is by Ludovico).
101. Inv. no. 1887. See Wittkower 1952, p. 162, cat. no. 257.
102. Inv. no. W itt. 109 (as Agostino Carracci). I noted the connection with the painting on the
drawing’s mount when I saw the study on September 27,1993.
C h a p t e r E ig h t
A n n ib a le ’s S e c o n d T rip T o P a rm a , H is
P i e t a , A n d T h e B e g in n in g s O f F a r n e s e
P a tr o n a g e
ellori reported that Annibale had painted the M ystic Marriage o f Saint
B Catherine (Naples, Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte; fig. 118) while he was

“in the service” of Duke Ranuccio Farnese.1 Malvasia added that because of
the picture, “Annibale was selected to paint works for the duke’s collection”.2
Artists often gave examples of their work to potential patrons, so Annibale may well
have presented the Mystic Marriage to Ranuccio -with the hopes of receiving
commissions from him or gaining his favor. The picture is, I believe, datable on
stylistic grounds to 1584/85, although all scholars place it slightly later (ca. i$86l%’j ) .‘i
The palette o f vermilion, ochre, red earth, and silver gray with some deeper tones of
verdigris and ultramarine are the same colors Annibale used in the Baptism o f Christ.
And, like the altarpiece, the M ystic Marriage is a quiet picture; Saint Catherine’s
downward gaze and nimble hands evoke the solemnity o f her experience just as
Christ’s similar pose conveys a state of contemplation in the Baptism. The piecing,
dark eyes and wispy golden hair of the angel kneeling behind Catherine have
1. “Annibale did some paintings in the service of Duke Ranuccio, among which is the Mystic
Marriage of St. Catherine. It shows the Madonna seated on a cloud and on her lap is the Infant
Jesus who puts the ring on the finger of the kneeling saint whose arm is supported by an angel:
figures less than full-length, reduced with the same perfection and idea. Some copies of the
studies Annibale made in Parma are to been in Rome in the Farnese Palace, particularly the
Coronation of the Virgin on two large canvases. She has her hands at her breast and Christ is
crowning her. These figures were painted by Correggio in the old tribune of San Giovanni which
was later demolished and recopied by Cesare Aretusi (Bellori 1672, p. 23 [ed. 1976, p. 35; transl.:
Enggass 1968, p. 9]).”
3. See Francesco Bologna, “Lo Sposalizio di Santa Caterina di Annibale Carracci,” Paragon* CXXXIII
(1956), pp. 3-12 (ca. 1587); Posner 1971, vol. r, pp. 31 and 77, and voL 2, pp. 16-17, no. 32 (ca. 1586-87);
175
176
precedents in the young catechumen who sits at the lower right of the altarpiece and
also engages the viewer’s gaze. Other direct, formal parallels exist, but the paintings
are also technically close. Their surfaces are o f a fairly even texture with a light
impasto compared with Annibale’s Butcher Shop or Crucifixion of 1583. H e blended
his colors with short brushstrokes, and thus modeled the forms to achieve soft yet
structurally solid forms.
I believe on stylistic grounds that Annibale could have painted the Mystic
Marriage for Ranuccio in 1585. The painting’s provenance also suggests that date is
possible. Bellori explained that Ranuccio gave the painting back to Annibale when
the artist went to Rome to work for Cardinal Odoardo Farnese (Ranuccio’s brother).
Upon his arrival in the Papal City, Annibale presented the canvas to the Cardinal as a
gift from Ranuccio: “in nome del duca"A The picture appears, in fact, in a 1635
inventory of the Farnese collection in Rome, where Bellori would have seen it.
Annibale reportedly made several other pictures while in Ranuccio’s service,
including a copy on two canvases of Correggio’s Coronation o f the Virgin, in Parma’s
San Giovanni Evangelista, which were also in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome, during
Bellori’s lifetime .5 But despite such evidence, Roberto Zapperi recently dismissed
the information as being “far from certain” and proposed that the Carracci had no
contact with the Farnese until 1 5 9 1 .6
Based on the date I proposed for the picture, one would assume that it
entered the Farnese collection in or around 1585, when Annibale traveled to Parma in
order to paint the Pieta w ith Saints (Parma, Pinacoteca Nazionale; fig. 119) for the
high altar o f Santa Maria Maddalena in Parma.7 The church, located along the left
bank of the river Parma opposite the town’s center, was more commonly called i
Cappuccini for the reformers of the Franciscan Order who worshiped there and lived
and Cooney/Malafarina 1976, p. 94, no. 30 (as 1586-87). Ann Sutherland Harris (written
communication) disagrees with my earlier dating of the picture.
4. Bellori 1678, p. 30 (Bellori ed. 1976, p. 43).
5. Ibid.
6. Zapperi 1986, p. 203.
7. See Posner 1971, vol 1, pp. 30-31 and 38-40, and voL 2, pp. 12-13, no. 24.
i
j
*77 I
1
i
in the adjoining convent.8 The Carracci had other ties with this particular group of
Capuchins that proceed and anti-date Annibale’s painting. In chapter four I
attributed to Ludovico the fresco of the Madonna and Child w ith St. John (ca. 1578)
that once decorated the convent next to the church where Agostino spent his last
months. It is altogether possible that Annibale received the commission for the
Pieta because of Ludovico’s contact with thepadri in the late 1570s.
The floor plan o f the Cappuccini appears in a detailed, eighteenth-century map

o f the city of Parma by Gian Pietro Sardi (fig. i2o).9 It is modest-sized, rectangular
structure built in 1230 with a broad nave relative to its length and four shallow
chapels on each side o f the aisle. Because the church has no apse and no vestibule,
Annibale’s altarpiece (indicated by a cross in Sardi’s drawing) would have made an
immediate impression on the devout who entered the building through a central
doorway.10 The Capuchins had occupied Santa Maria Maddalena for just a decade
when Annibale’s altarpiece was installed. Indeed, the friars had arrived in Parma
only in 1565, some forty years after the Order was created.11 A t first, the padri
resided in the oratory o f San Brigida (destroyed in 1674) and then, in 1570, they
moved into the oratory o f Santa Maria degli Angeli. Five years later, the padri finally
received custody o f an old church known as Santa Maria della Pace, which they
renamed Santa Maria Maddalena.12 Given their brief and unsettled history in Parma,
the Order must have been eager to establish themselves as a major spiritual presence
in the city, much like the Benedictines who had long occupied the monastery and
8. Cbiese e conventi £ Parma, ed. Felice da Mareto (Parma: Deputazione per le province parmensi,
1978), p. 226.
9. Gian Pietro Sardi, La citta £ Parma: delineata, e divisa in isole colla descrizione degli attuaUpossessori £
tutte k case, cbiese, monasteri & c. dei carnali, cam, canadelk, condotti, coli e fotttane, cbe v i scorrono
sotterra- ricavata dalpiano originak della medesima eseguita, e compilata in quesfamw MDCCLXVII Gan
Pietro Sar£ (Parma: PPS, 1993), folio 1.
10. The date of the church is given in Chiese 1978, p. 226.
11. For a brief history of the Capuchins see Charles George Herbermann et al. eds., The Catholic
Encyclopedia (New York: Encyclopedia Press Inc., 1913), s.v. “Capuchin Friars Minor,” by Father
Cuthbert. For a more detailed history see Claude-Charles Billot, Les Capuctns: urn riforme
francisceune au XVJe stick (Nantes: Siloe, 2001).
12. For the history of the church see Chiese 1978, pp. 31-25 and 226-29. Since 1527, the church had
been home to the Frati Minori Amadeiti, a little-known foundation of the Franciscan order, and
before them, to the Templati (suppressed in 1312).
178
church of San Giovanni Evangelista.^ In 1520s and 30s, the Benedictine friars and
their secular followers (namely Pietro and Placido Del Bono) had been Correggio’s
principle patrons, commissioning frescoes and oil paintings for the church, which
thus attracted pious admirers. r4 The Franciscans undoubtedly hoped to decorate
their new church with a grand altarpiece that was worthy of similar attention and was
equally moving. By all accounts Annibale fulfilled their expectations, employing a
style that evoked Correggio’s.
The Pieta has long been one of Annibale’s most famous works because of its
lyrical beauty that seems a tribute to its Correggesque inspiration. Bellori gave no
other early picture as much attention, describing the figures and their gestures in
detail. The passage, which casts Annibale as a Correggio redivivus of sorts, concludes
as follows:
One cannot say enough about how Annibale penetrated and made his
own the best of Correggio. The delicate concept of that great master
is in the disposition ana motion of the figures, as in their outlines and
coloring. The heavenly glory in the sky in particular seems to have
been blended by Correggio’s brush. This work done at still a youthful
age, gave evidence to Federico Zuccheri, who was traveling in Parma at
the time, that Annibale would hold the first place in painting. I t
almost seemed as if the spirit of Correggio, the fine genius of color,
had risen again. x5
But despite his enthusiasm for the painting’s colorito and display of the a ffetti there is
no evidence that Bellori had actually seen the canvas in Parma. He is not known to
have traveled to the city nor does his text indicate details about the specific colors
th at Annibale had used. Malvasia had mixed feelings about the altarpiece, preferring,
instead, another Pieta (unfortunately now lost) dating from only slightly later in the
painter’s career.1^ W riters up to the present day have expressed similar interests in
13. For the Benedictines in Parma see Bruno Adomi et al. L ’A bbazia benedettina di San Giovanni
Evangelista a Parma (Parma: Cassa di Risparmio di Parma, 1979).
14. For the Benedictines and Correggio see Andrea Mussi, II Correggio e la congregazione cassinese
(Florence: s.n. 1982).
15. Bellori 1672, p. 23 (ed. 1976, p. 35; transl: Enggass 1968, p. 8). For the rest of the description see
ibid, pp. 22-23 (ed. 1976, pp. 34*35)-
16. “The earliest and most important of the two paintings of the Dead Christ, or Pieta, as they are
called, one of which adorns the main altar in the Capuchin’s church at Parma, and the other the
altar of the richly decorated sacristy of S. Prospero in Reggio. If I were asked to choose between
them, I would certainly lean towards the latter, because it is grander in manner, brighter in color,
more singular in its invention, and no less powerful in its expression, which may easily have been
the result of the assistance which Ludovico gave them when he revised and retouched everything
the Piety’s style and have emphasized its significance for understanding Annibale’s
artistic development and contributions to the Carracci Reform. As yet, no one has
explained the circumstances o f the commission, identified the patron or patrons
(presumed to be the Cappuccini padri), established where Annibale painted the
altarpiece (in Bologna, as is generally assumed, or in Parma as both Bellori and
Malvasia reported), or examined its unusual Franciscan iconography.
Giovanni Agucchi hinted at the success Annibale achieved in Parma when he

remarked that works Annibale had painted for the Duke later resulted in his move to
Rome.1? Bellori’s account of the M ystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine, if believed,
establishes early ties between Annibale and the Farnese. Scholars were unaware,
however, that the Parmese Capuchins for whom Annibale painted the Pieta, were
favorites o f the Farnese family. Even before the Order moved to Santa Maria
Maddalena, the Farnese had supported the Capuchins more generally.1*5 It was
through the intervention of the second Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Ottavio
Farnese (1524-1586), during the early 1570s, that the Parmese Order initially obtained
the church o f the Maddalena and convent.^ Moreover, on December 26,1575, when
[tutta ritoccando, rivide}. Not that the emotions are any less marvelous and expressive in the
Parma Pieta, which certainly deserved the praise given to it by Federico Zuccaro, who saw it
when passing through the city, and who, proud as he was of his own talent and even more of his
good fortune, coulanot help but praise it, adding that the painter would one day leave everyone
else behind. Nonetheless, because the figures are considerably smaller than life size ana the
color a little languid, its beauty does not quite equal that of the other painting” (Malvasia 1678,
vol. 1, p. 386 fed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 498; transl: Summerscale 199?, pp. 215-16®. For the history of the
lost Pteta formerly in Reggio and then destroy during World w ar II while in the Bridgewater
Collection, London. See Posner 1971, vol. 2, pp. 37-38, no. 31, and Cooney/Malafarina 1976, p. 94,
no. 29, where the authors date the painting to c. 1586.
17. Agucchi in Mosini 1646, p. 12 f(rpt. Mahon 1947, p. 251; and Marabottini 1979, p. liii; also rpt. in
Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 403 [Malvasia ed. 1841, vol. 1, p. 294; transL: author, in part, and
Summerscale 2000, p. 169, in part®. See also p. 21 above.
18. “Nelfanno pot xytfy, essendo locotenente e capitan generate della Fiandra, da parte della maesta catolica, il
serenissimo signor Alessandro Farnese, avendo at nuovo ritomata alTobeaienza del re catolica e tutte
quellaltre citta, da Parigji andarono quattro padri cappuccini alia stessa citta, dAnversa per cominciart a
propazare questa novella vigna del Signore m quelle parti, U quali, doppo alcuni mesi, essendo richiamati
datl’obedienzia de’suoiprelati, lo stesso serenissimo signor duca di Palma [Parma}, parte per raffetto grande
cbe sempre ba avuto alia religione de’padri capuccini con tutta la sua famiglia, e parte ancora per
consolasione di quei populi, a quali era sopra ogni altra cosa grata lassistenzia di detti padri, scrisse alia
santita di Sisto Sitpnto, e accapo cbe iv i si restassero con ailatarsi e moltiplicarsi poi grandemente e
maravigliosamenteper la Fiandra, per la Germania, per la Boemia, per la Valloma,perta Colonia, Lorena e
altre provinzie, ove da’serenissimt imperatori e ducbi di Lorena non solo tutta la religione, ma il padre
Lorenzo da Brindisi, predicatore cappuccino in particolare, riceve favori estraordnarT (Bonaventura
Campagna da Reggio, “Cronaca Cappuccina,” 1623, MS rpted. in Frati Cappuccini: Docutnenti e
Testimonianze del Primo Secolo, ed. py Costanzo Cargnoni [Perugia: Edizioni Frate Indovino,
1988-93], pp. 1357-58).
19. uNel 1574,per intercessione del duca Ottavio, ottennero di subentrare aifra ti Amadei, altra branca minore
francescana, allora soppressa, nella officiatura della parroccbia di S. Maria Maddalena del Tempio
i8 o
the Capuchins took possession, Maria of Portugal, the wife of Alessandro Famese
and Ranuccio’s mother, led a procession commemorating the event.20 It seems
possible that the padri renamed the church after Maria’s patron saint, Mary
Magdalene. T he Duchess died on July 7, 1577 and, as her last will and testament
requested, was interred in Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie dressed in the
habit of the Poor Clares who worshiped there.21
Traditionally, the family’s tomb was in San Francesco dei Minori Conventuali
on the island o f Bisentina located in the middle of Lago di Bolsena.22 Ranuccio
Famese, Roman senator, had inherited the island in 1448 or 1449. Alessandro’s
father, Ottavio and his grandfather, Pier Luigi (1503-1547), the first and second Dukes
of Parma and Piacenza, respectively, were also interred there. Contemporary
accounts record in grim detail the long and difficult journey that the deceased
Famese made to their island tomb .23 For obvious reasons, Alessandro sought a new
burial plot in Parma that was grander and more convenient for his family and their
mourners, choosing Santa Maria Maddalena. Upon his death in 1592, Alessandro’s
body and Maria’s remains were transferred to the crypt in the Cappuccitu, which soon
became known as the sepolcri famesiam as the final resting place o f the Famese
dynasty.^ As early as 1611, tourist books began listing the site .25 In 1812 the caskets
[actually, it was the parish of Santa Maria del Tempio], appartenente ai Cavalieri Gerosolimitani cbe
v i tenevano atiche un ospedale. La holla di concessione del Gran Maestro delTOrdine di Malta i del 10
gennaio 1574 e Panno seguente, auspice laprincipessa M aria delPortogallo, moglie di Alessandro Famese, con
grande e solenne processionefit fatta la presa dipossesso” (Francesco Borri, “I Sepoicri farnesiani e la
Chiesa dei Cappuccini di Parma,” Arcbivio Storicoper le province Parmensi XIX £1967}, p. 194. In
1778, Clemente Ruta reported that Ottavio had begun talks with the Cavalieri in 1570: “L’anno
1570 per mediazione del Serenissimo Duca Ottavio Farnese presso i Cavalieri di Malta posero
piede fisso i detti Padri, e nella Chiesa, e nel luogo di loro residenza con l’annuo Canone di une
libbra di cera, chepagasi il giorno della Santa” (Clemente Ruta, Guida, edesatta notizia a'fiorastieri
delle piit eccellentipitture cbe sono in molte cbiese dells cittd di Parma [Parma: Gozzi, 1739}, p. 158). It
was a typographical error on page 158 of Ruta’s book, which he corrected in the errata Qbtd. p.
187) that misled Borri in the quote above to believe that church was in the parish of Santa Maria
Maddalena.
20. “Nel 157$ fu fatta una solenne processione, alia quale intervenne la sua Principessa Maria di
Portogallo corteggiata da un numeroso stuolo, che accompagnarono i detti padri e prendere il
possesso e della Cniesa, e Convento” (Sanseverini 1778, vol. 1, pp. 158-59).
21. See Alessandro Del Prato, “II testamento di Maria di Portogallo, moglie di Alessandro Famese,”
Arcbivio storicoper leprovinceparmensi VIII (1908), pp. 176-77
22. See Francesco Borri, “La Tomba di Pier Luigi Farnese all’isola Bisenta,” Aurea Parma III (1961),
pp. 62-70.
23. Ibid., pp. 63-67.
24. See Borri 1967, pp. 193-97, who amended several errors in Giovanni Drei, “Le tombe di
Alessandro Famese e dei Duchi di Parma” Aurea Parma VI (1937), pp.
i8i
of Alessandro and Maria and those o f other family members were moved to Santa
Maria della Steccata, where they remain today.26 W e do not know when Alessandro
made this decision but it is possible that Annibale was aware of the family’s intention
since the choice of a Pieta as the subject of the new high altarpiece was especially
appropriate for the church’s impending function.
Scholars have overlooked another major aspect o f the painting’s history that
deserves to be mentioned. Armando Ottaviano Quintavalle’s catalogue of paintings
in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, published in 1939, contains a fascinating statement in
the entry for the Pieta. It reads: “Era sull’altare maggiore della chiesa dei Cappuccini
a Parma ed aveva a lato un S. Lodovico ed una S. Elisabetta dello stesso Annibale, ora
smarriti.”27 Nowhere in the m odem literature is mention made of this altarpiece
ever having two lateral paintings. Bellori did not mention the works nor did
Malvasia, perhaps thinking that anyone who knew the central composition would
have seen the wings. Further he admitted that his account o f paintings by the
Carracci was incomplete: “for it would be impossible to recall let alone mention all of
them.”28 Neither Donald Posner in his catalogue raisonne of Annibale’s pictures
(1971) nor any other scholars who have discussed the painting mentioned the
mysterious “lost” works. Did they actually exist and, if so, were they in fact lost
when Quintavalle wrote about them in 1939? Both points are easily resolved. W hen
Quintavalle wrote his catalogue the two pictures still survived across the river from
the Pinacoteca Nazionale in the same church for which Annibale had painted them.
They appeared in a 1934 inventory o f art objects in the Provincia di Parma, which
was published as part of an enormous government-sponsored program to document
Italy’s cultural patrimony. Listed among the contents o f the church of the
Immacolata Concessione (the name given to Santa Maria Maddalena in i 88 i ) 29 one
reads: “Le due tele sostituiscono un S. Ludovico e una Santa Elisabetta che al tempo del
25. “Nella chiesa de i Cappuccini sta sepolto Alessandro Famese invittsssimo Capitano, & la sua devotissima
Consorte Madama M arid (Andrea Scoto, Itinerario overo nova descrittione de'viaggfbrincipali dItalia:
nella quale si bd piena notitia di tutte le cose piit notabili, 6" degie dessere vedute ai Andrea Scoto. —
Novamente trad, dal latino in lingua Hal., br accresciuto di molte cose, che nel latino non si contengmo
[Venetia: Bolzetta, 1610], p. 7iverso]).
26. See Prato 1908, p. 164.
27. Quintavalle 1939, p. 75, under no. 169.
28. Malvasia 1678, vol. 1, p. 353 (Malvasia ed. 1841, voL 1, p. 282; transL: Summerscale 1995, p. 497).
182
Bertoluzzi erano gjd m l coro. M i sembram imitaziom ottocentesche dai mamristiparmensi e

in particolare dal Mazzola Bedoli. Probabile opere di Biagio M artini veduto dai
contemporami come imitatore delle maniere antiche”3 ° In addition the inventory stated
that the pictures were “D ipinti ad olio su tela”. The reference to the nineteenth-
century historian Giusepe Bertoluzzi only hints at the pictures’ long, documented
history. Biagio Martini (1761-1840), an artist/composer who repainted a faded facade
attributed to Titian in the town of Busseto, certainly did not paint them. In 1671
Giacomo Barri described the altarpiece in his Italian guidebook:
At the high Altar is a great Piece, the top whereof is half round, with a
dead Christ in the lap o f the B. Virgin half dead, upheld by Angels, with S.
Francis pointing at our dead Lord, as also a S. Magdalen, and S. Chiara,
with a Glory o f Angels carrying the Cross, painted by the most excellent
hand of Hanntbal earache. On the side o f the said Altar there is a Lewis
King of Frame, and a S. Chiara, the work of the said Hannibal31
The English tourist Ellis Veryard mentioned a Saint Louis and Saint Clare by
Annibale in an account of 1701, when the group was still intact.32 The wings were
removed from the altarpiece and used as window shutters in the church’s choir
sometime between 1739 (when Clemente Ruta saw the pictures flanking the high
altar33) and 1778 (when Alessandro Sanseverini described them as “le Portelle
deVConFty. By 1796, they were being used as shutters for the windows of the choir.35
29. For the history of the church in the nineteenth century see Mareto 1976, pp. 226-29.
30. lnventario degli oggetti d'arte d'ltalia, vol. 3, Provincia di Parma, ed. by Arslan, Edoardo (Roma:
Libreria dello stato, 1934), p. 57.
31. Barri 1671, n.p.; transL: William Lodge, The Painters Voyage o f Italy (London: Thomas Flesher,
1679), p. 119.
32. Ellis Veryhard, An account o f divers choice remarks, as well gtograpbical as historical, political,
mathematical,physical, and moral; taken in a journey through the Low Countries, France, Italy, andpart o f
Spain... (London: Samuel Farley, 1701). Rpt. in Fausto Razzetti, “Parma in un antico libro di
viaggi inglese,” Aurea Parma XLI (1961), p. 38.
33. “II Styadro delTAltar magaore, rapprefenta Gesit Crifto morto in braccio alia B. Vergjne....Le due
Sopraporticelle a’lati deWAltar magmore, dove v i e efprejfo in una S. Lodovico, neWaltra Santa Elifabetta,
sono delfoddetto Annibale CaraccT (Ruta 1739, pp. 20-22).
34. Alessandro Sanserverini, IlParmigjano istruito nelle notizie della suapatria sparse nelpresente almanacco
istorico-cronologico, voL 1 (Parma: Giuseppe Braglia, 1778), p. 159.
35. uA ltar Maggjore. Maria Vereine addolorata con Gesu Cristo morto in grembo, Santa Maria
Maddalena, San Francesco, Santa Chiara, e diversi Angeli. Annibale Caracci....In Coro...I due
Sportelli collocati una volta alle due fmestre laterali che guardano in Chiesa con S. Lodovico, e
Santa Elisabetta Lodovico Caracci. Nel Cbiostro. Lunetta a fresco colla Beata Vergine. Agostino
Caracci {rir}" (Ireneo Affb, II Parmigiano servitor dipiazza owero dialogpi di Frombola ne’quali dopo
varie notizie interessanti su la pitture ai Parma siporge il catalogo delle principali [Parma: Carmignani,
1796}. PP-107-108).
Three years later, Napoleon’s troops absconded with the Pieta to Paris, but the wings
remained behind. W hen the central canvas returned to Parma in 1816, it entered the
Pinacoteca Nazionale, together w ith many other repatriated works,36 but in 1830 the
side paintings were still used as window shutters and by 1869 had become the doors
enclosing the organ.37
Saints Louis of Toulouse (1274- 1297) and (by most accounts) Elizabeth of
Hungary were among the most important Franciscan Saints. The several writers who
identified the female Saint as Clara were most likely fooled because Elizabeth is
often represented dressed as a Poor Clare. Both Saint Louis and Elizabeth
ministered to the poor and sick and had aristocratic roots. Saint Louis was the
second son o f Charles II, King o f Naples (1288-1309), and nephew o f Saint Louis IX
o f France; and o f Mary of Hungary. His great-aunt was Saint Elizabeth H e became
a Franciscan friar and was consecrated Bishop of Toulouse in 1296. Saint Elizabeth,
a pious German princess, was forced to marry Ludwig o f Hungary and endured many
travails. Longing for a life of chastity and poverty, and deeply devoted to helping the
poor and destitute, she renounced her aristocratic life after the death of her husband
in 1217, and received the dress o f the Third Order of St. Francis, the following year.
Elizabeth was honored for renouncing wealth.
The fate of these works after the Second W orld W ar remains a mystery. Are
they still in the church of the Immacolata Concessione or were they destroyed
during the war when Parma suffered massive damage from bombing? While their
whereabouts are unknown, knowledge of the works obviously affects how we might
interpret the Pieta. The construction o f a frame to house such an ensemble and the
time it took for Annibale to execute three paintings, not one, all need to be
considered. T his was certainly an unusual format for an Italian altarpiece o f the
period. Around 1600 Annibale designed a portable tabernacle of the Pieta with
36. “Vedonsi nel Coro, frall’altre pitture, a senso de’ conoscitori, non disprezzabili, due quadri di
forma oblunga per lo in piedi, cne servivano gia di chiudende alle finestre che guardano in Chiesa;
quesd esibiscono S. Lodovico, e S. Elisabetta di mano di Annibale Caracci” (Giuseppe Bertoluzzi,
Nuovissima Guida per osservare le pitture si a olio cbe a fresco esistenti attualmente nelle cbiese di Parma,
Parma, 1830, p. 50).
37. uLe due pitture oblunsfn del Coro (gia chiudende delTorgmo) fiquranti S. Ludovico, e S. Elizabetta sono
attribute ad Annibale Carracci" (Carlo Malaspina, Nuova Guida di Parma, Parma, 1869,3rd. ed., p.
77)-
184
saints painted on its wings that offers a hint of what his earlier work might have
looked like (Galleria Nazionale, Rome).38
The most important figure in the painting after Christ is Saint Francis who
wears the most distinct feature o f the Capuchin Order: the cappa, or long pointed
hood, that the friars adopted in 1525 as a symbol of their fundamental devotion to
traditional Franciscan values. Francis also appears exceptionally thin in the painting,
his wrists barely visible beneath his heavy cowl, which gathers abundantly around his
narrow waist and shows obvious signs of wear and patching. His hollow features,
too, betray the rigor and depth of his commitment to a pious life of poverty and
good works. The olive skin o f his face stretches tightly over his forehead and skull
creating an oily sheen. These features, and the skull as his knees, contrast with the
sumptuousness garments of the Magdalene and the golden vessel of ointment at her
feet. Francis forms the base o f a compositional diagonal made up of expressive faces
and hands culminating with Saint Paul and two angels, who gather around the fainted
Virgin. The Franciscan engages our attention with his intense expression and out
stretched arms that expose the stigmata in each of his hands. These marks serve as a
metaphor for his spiritual closeness to Christ, expressed literally in the painting.
Indeed, the most important published account of Francis’s life, by Saint
Bonaventura, described the stigmata in detail, noting how the Saint’s vision of
“Divine Providence”:
wholly transformed him into the likeness o f the Christ Crucified, not
by the martyrdom of the flesh, but by the kindling of the mind. As it
disappeared, therefore, the vision left in his heart a wondrous glow,
but it imprinted in his flesh also a no less wondrous likeness o f its
tokens. For immediately the marks of the nails began to appear in his
hands and his feet just as a little earlier he had observed them in that
figure of the Crucified Man. For his hands and his feet seemed to be
transfixed through the middle by nails, the heads o f the nails showing
in the palms of the hands and on the upper part of the feet, and their
joints standing out on the other side; and the heads of the nails in
50th hands and feet were round and black, but the points were
ongish, twisted, and as it were bent back, and they rose out o f the
flesh itself and projected beyond it .39
Art historians often cite this passage when discussing the many paintings and
prints that show the Saint’s stigmatization or represent him after the miracle had
38. For the painting in Rome see Posner 1971, vol 2, p. 54; and Zapperi 1994, pp. 89-90.
i 85
occurred. Annibale’s depiction, however, is a literal interpretation of the text, by

which I refer specifically to the unusual portrayal (or portrait) of the stigmata. No
one has commented about the Saint’s wounds in the painting, in which the actual
nails are prominently embedded “in both hands and feet”, just as Bonaventura wrote.
Their heads “round and black” appear in Francis’s lerc hand and feet. The point,
“longish, twisted, and as it were bent back,” protrudes from the back of his right
hand. The instruments of the passion rise “out of the flesh itself and [are] projected
beyond it”. No earlier image o f the Saint known to me depicts nails in his wounds,
despite Bonaventura’s description o f them in his account.4 °
W hat prompted Annibale’s unusual representation of the stigmata? The

answer seems to lie in a contemporary movement within the Capuchin Order to
amend the Saint’s martryology and include the feast of the Stigmata in the
theological c a l e n d a r . 41 According to Jeannine Baticle, “Cardinal Cesare Baronius
secured the consent of the Franciscan pontiff Sixtus V in 1585 to include the miracle
of the stigmata in the martyrology o f the saint.” Baticle also explained that at the
same time artists began to depict the Saint as an ascetic “more in keeping with the
post-Tridentine i d e a T . 42 In 1585, he also produced an engraving of the Saint Francis
adorning a skull and grasping a Crucifix to his chest (B.XVIII.191.15, fig. i2i).43
Although the stigmata are not visible, three nails projecting through the back of the
cross serve as a surrogate for the wounds. In 1586, Agostino engraved the
stigmatization of Saint Francis, apparently of his own design, that also emphasizes
the stigmata (B.X V III.72.68, fig. i22).44 An inscription written on a piece of paper in
39. Saint Bonaventura, The Little Flowers o fSt. Francis, The Mirror ofPerfection by Leo o f Asssisi, TbeLife
o fSt. Francis by St. Bonaventura (London: J. M. Dent and Sons; and New York: £. P. Dutton and
Co. Inc., 1910), p. 385.
40. For an in-depth discussion of the stigmata in earlierpaintings see Chiara Frugoni,Francesco e
Hnvenzione delle stimmate: una storia per parole e immapnifino a Bonaventura e Giotto (Torino: G.
Einaudi, 1993).
41. See Steven F. Ostrow, A rt and Spirituality in Counter-Rejormation Rome: the Sistine and Pauline
Chapels in S. Maria Maggfore (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p.
20.
42. See Zurbaran, exh. cat. by Jeanine Baticle with essays by Yves Bottineau, Jonathan Brown, and
Alfonso E. Pdrez Sinchez, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (New York: H any N.
Abrams, 1987), p. 271, under cat no. 53.
43. See Washington 1979, p. 434, cat. no. 7, ill
44. See Washington 1979, pp. 240-241, cat. no. 140, ilL
i8 6
the print reads: “Ego enim stigma: / ta »[ost]rr: Iesu Christi in / corpore meoporto [I bear
in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus]”.45 Early impressions of Agostino’s
engraving show feint indications on the plate that the artist had intended to include
nails in the Saint’s hands and foot, which he chose not to engrave or burnished out
early on. Annibale’s altarpiece reflects these recent changes in Franciscan
iconography suggesting that his patrons gave him specific instructions, which
stipulated placing the Magdalene in a prominent position and including St. Clare.
Scholars assume that Annibale’s Pieta in Parma contributed to an increased

appreciation o f Correggio’s paintings among artists outside Parma, one that
Agostino’s engraving (B.XVII.87-88.95) after Correggio’s Madonna o f SaintJerome, or il
Giomo, only helped to hasten. Central to the current concept of the Carracci
Reform is the trio’s “rediscovery” o f Correggio, presumably at a time when few
painters cared for his works. But were the Carracci alone in their appreciation for
his paintings or did their esteem for the master result from broader tastes that
modem historians have not yet recognized? More specifically, did Annibale change,
or reform, his style when he painted the Pieta to suit the tastes of his Parmese
patrons? Answering these questions will help set in its proper context his
Correggism and clarify his motives.
Over the past two centuries, few scholars have studied the painters active in
Parma during the latter half o f the sixteenth century or examined the city’s hazy
artistic atmosphere at the dusk o f the 1600s. They consider the period from roughly
1520 (when Correggio arrived in Parma) until 1540 (when Parmigianino died) as the
city’s “Golden Age.” But religious orders continued to furnish and redecorate
chapels throughout the century, employing painters to create large frescoes and
important altarpieces, such as Annibale’s Pieta and Agostino’s Madonna and Child
with Saints John the Baptist, Cecilia, and Margaret (Parma, Galleria Nazionale) for the
Benedictine nuns of San Paolo in 1586. Besides the Carracci, other bologpesi were
active in the city in advance o f the trio’s arrival. Ercole Pio, Giovanni Antonio
Paganini (act. 1573-1593), and Cesare Aretusi (1549-1612), are little-known today, but
45. For a discussion of this image see Pamela Askew, T h e Angelic Consolation of St. Francis of
Assisi in Post-Tridentine Painting,” Journal o f the Warburg and Qntrtauld Institutes XXXII (1969),
pp. 283-84.
i 87
worked in Parmese churches during the 1570s and 1 5 8 0 s. 46 Far from rediscovering
Correggio’s legacy, it is clear that when the Carracci arrived in Parma, those who
appreciated art treasured Correggio’s works. Perhaps more than any other artist,
Aretusi’s activities reflect this phenomena. In 1583, he painted a “celebrated” copy of
Correggio’s Adoration o f the Shepherds, or IlN otte, then in the church of San Prospero,
Reggio Emilia.47 The replica (now lost) was made for the side chapel o f San
Giovanni Evangelista, which the monks had conceded to Ercole Pio, the Bolognese
painter mentioned above, on April 25,1583.48 A nother copy attributed to Aretusi of
Correggio’s Madonna o f Saint George was recorded in the church of San Bamaba in
Mantua in 1763.49 In his vita of Aretusi, Malvasia mentioned that the painter copied
the Madonna o f SaintJerome by Correggio. Reportedly, the Benedictine monks were
so impressed with Aretusi’s imitative skills that they hired him to repaint Correggio’s
great Coronation o f the Virgin, which they had planned to destroy.S0 The loss was
unavoidable: faced with the choice of expanding the apse o f the chinch or sparing
the fresco, they chose piety over preservation and demolished the masterpiece.
Besides, a good copyist like Aretusi could make a suitable substitute—which he did.
T he project began in late August of 1586 and concluded, swiftly, by July 27, 1587.
According to Bellori, Aretusi worked from copies o f the fresco by the Carracci, but
this widely accepted belief is unfounded since Aretusi produced his own cartoons.51
46. For Aretusi see Daniele Benati, “L’attivitsi bolognese di Cesare Aretusi,” II Carrobbio, Rivista di
Studi Bolognesi V III (1982), pp. 37-50.
47. See Malvasia 1841 ed., p. 250.
48. See Adomi 1979, pp. 143-44,n- 67.
49. uAlsectmdo altare a sinistra v l ilquadro, su cut e ejfigiata la Madonna, S. Giovambatista edaltri Santi.cb’e
una bellissima copia dun quadro del Correggio,fatta dalsuofamoso scolare Cesare Aretusi, Modonese. Esso
quadro e dipinto con tanta risolutesza, e maestria, cbe, se non fosse notissimo il suo originate, potrebbe egli
essere per ventura come tale riconosciuto” (Giovanni Cadioli, Descrizione delle pitture, sculture, ed
arcbitetture cbe si osservano nella cittd di Mantova e ne’suoi contomi: data in luce a comodo singplarmente
de’forestieri da Giovanni Cadioli, pittor mantovano ed arcbitetto teatrale; dedicata a sua eccellenza il
signor don Carlo.... [Mantua: Alberto Pazzoni, 1763], p. 84, as in the church of San Bamaba,
“Chiesa de’ PP. Servi” ). Girolamo Tiraboschi also mentioned the painting in his notes on
Modenese painters, under Aretusi’s name: “In Mantova ancora conservasi in S. Bamaba una
copia fatta dall’ Aretusi del quadro del Correggio, che rappresenta la B. V. con S. Giambatista, ed
altri Santi, il quale dalle Galleria Estense passo a quella Dresda” Girolamo Tiraboschi, Notizie de’
pittori, scultort, incisori, e arcbitetti natii degli stati del serenissimo signor duca di Modena: con una
appendice de’professori di musica raccolte e ordinate dal cavaliere ab. Girolamo Tiraboschi [Modena:
Societl tipogranca, 1786}, p. 95).
50. Malvasia ed. 1841, p. 250.
51. See Adomi 1979, pp. 72-75, and 156, n. 23.
i8 8
Three documented copies after major paintings by Correggio were painted in

Parma within the space o f two or three years from 1583 until 1586. For Annibale,
whose Bolognese paintings were coarse and unfinished, according to Malvasia, the
chance to paint a major altarpiece for a church in Parma was golden. The
Benedictines had as their artistic heritage oil paintings and frescoes by Correggio.
Aretusi’s copy of the master’s Notte, installed in San Giovanni ca. 1584, reflected the
tastes o f the church’s benefactors. In fact, Tiberio Delphini, who commissioned
Agostino’s engraving of Correggio’s Giomo, bequeathed his art collection to the
monks on February 18, 1585.52 Delphini was also the personal physician o f
Alessandro Famese, who acquired a large fragment o f the Coronation o f the Virgin on
March 28,1588, when the apse was demolished. Thus Annibale painted the Pieta in
Parma during a period of intense interest in Correggio’s legacy. Upon arriving in the
city, he set aside his coarse brushes and palette with earthen hues and adopted a
more refined style, one that he then used in all of his later commissions in Bologna,
Reggio Emilia, and, eventually, Rome. W hether or not the Famese had paid for the
Pieta, Annibale’s picture had a defining affect on the course of his future with them.
52. See Ekserdjian 1 9 9 7 , p . 3 1 3 , n. 1; and I Regcsti delgjridario della Btblioteca civica comunale di Parma
(1526-1802), edited by Antonio AJiani (Parma: Granche STEP, 1985), pp. 153-54.
C h a pt e r N in e
T h e E n d O f T h e B e g in n in g
very beginning has its end and by all estimates the formative years of the
E Carracci concluded by 1586. By then Ludovico, Agostino, and Annibale had

each achieved a remarkable degree of professional success
independence. Their subsequent activities are as interesting and compelling as their
and
origins. Nevertheless more can be said about their early years. A number of
developments brought about the innovations of the early 1580’s. They have been
among the key points that I have emphasized throughout this work. If nothing else,
I hope that this study has revealed the malleability o f the visual and textual evidence
we have about Carracci. Like gold it can be stretched and recast, producing
something quite different from its initial form. And because documents and works
of art from the period are relatively rare, such evidence is like a precious metal.
Devoting years to examining an artistic phenomenon has its dangers foremost

of which is proving that the subject of study is historically valid. Indeed, the earliest
literary references to the Carracci Reform appear in the many diverse texts
associated with Agostino’s funeral of 1603: Morello’s description of the ceremony,
Faberio’s orazione, and the sixty-four sonetti, canzoni, ballate, and madrigali dedicate to
the artist. I believe that the Carracci indirectly “authored” those works, which were
composed by their friends and by fellow academicians who were aware of the trio’s
artistic goals. The same must be said about Agucchi’s discorso in which the Carracci
reign as “/ soli restitutori del vero modo del Dipingere”. Even as young men, they
envisioned themselves in grandiose ways, inventing their own imprests (just as
Bandinelli, Titian, and Michelangelo had for themselves) and incorporating it into
their Academy’s emblem. Already, by 1582, the celestial iconography that Agostino
designed insinuated stardom. W ith the opening of the Carracci Academy in 1582,
Ludovico and his cousins focused more intensely on life drawing and clarified their
views on art through close contacts with other known academicians, namely Ercole
189
190
Proccacini, and his son Camillo, and Giampaolo Bonconti, whose wealthy father
made the Academy possible.
Bellori wrote that Annibale’s origins were humble—a characterization that

better describes his concluding years. Since the seventeenth century, most scholars
have assumed that the Carracci came from a family o f modest means, if not poor, as
Bellori had thought. However romantic it may be, I hope that I have dispelled that
notion. Before “The Carracci”, there was Carlo Carracci, a learned figure whose
presence in Bolognese intellectual can now be recognized. Carlo was a tailor by
trade, but his success as a mathematician, architect, and riparian demonstrates the
value he placed on education. T hat attitude undoubtedly affected his nephews
became successful painters despite their familial traditions.
Certainly, for me, the most intriguing period o f the artists’ biographies has
been the 1570s when both Ludovico and Agostino began working and Annibale
served as his cousin’s apprentice. Ludovico underwent a remarkable transformation
as I outlined in the chronology I proposed in chapter three. The disparate group of
works usually assigned to the early eighties seem to span a decade or so. W ithin the
greater artistic community of Bologna, governed by the Corporaztone dei pittori e
bombasari, Ludovico was well respected and politically powerful. His appointment to
the guild’s consiglio in 1582 serves as a benchmark of his talents and high-standing
among his fellow painters. As a result of his achievements, Ludovico’s workshop
received more important and prestigious commissions as the 1580s progressed. The
nature of those projects also allowed for especially creative solutions to artistic
problems: the reinterpretation o f classical prose, as with the Fava commissions, and
the depiction of new or unusual subjects like the vision o f St. Francis.
Agostino emerges for these pages as a gifted and savvy printmaker. I set out
in chapter six to clarify his relationship to his m entor Domenico Tibaldi and to
challenge the way scholars have interpreted his reproductive engraving after
Northern Italian models. Although specialists have been studied Agostino’s prints in
depth, they still require a much attention. Like other printmakers of his century,
Agostino was subject to the whims o f the market, the support of publishers, and the
conventions o f the medium.
All too often, scholars emphasize the uniqueness of their subjects, hence the
old idea that the Carracci worked outside the norm. But during 1570s and early
i9i
eighties, they relied on time-proven methods for creating art and conducting
business. O f all the problems that have plagued Carracci studies, issues of
authorship have been the most difficult to resolve especially those related to the
artists’ frescoes in the Palazzo Fava. Like so many riddles, the attribution o f those
works is inextricably linked to other matters: critical reception, methodology,
survival rates, and objectivity. The new drawings for the project that I discussed in
the latter half o f chapter seven may not settle scholarly qualms about authorship, but
they do offer more evidence for assessing the artists’ collaborative efforts. I t was
important for me to get beyond the popular debates surrounding the Carracci and
the Palazzo Fava and examine the frescoes from fresh perspectives. In order to do
that I examined other decorative elements used in the rooms, namely the ceilings
and sculpture. It is now apparent that the themes of matrimony and exotic valor
associated w ith Europa’s abduction and Jason search for the Golden Fleece related
to recent events in the history of the Fava family. I also proposed that the Carracci
started work in the palazzo several years earlier than scholars had though, ca. 1578/79
and relating the decorations to frescoes traditionally ascribed to Annibale in the
courtyard of the Collegio di Spagna, which must predate those in the palazzo.
N o attem pt to examine Annibale’s works critically can devalue them or lessen

the impact he has had on the history of Italian art. Indeed, this study has, in my
opinion, has enriched what was a rather flat image o f a well-rounded artist, filling out
his oeuvre with some new attributions and filling in questions about his intellectual
abilities. His letters to Ludovico, composed in 1580, reveal the mind of an astute and
opinionated critic of art. My analysis o f them, I believe, proves that the Carracci had
read Vasari’s Vite, specifically his accounts o f Correggio’s and Girolamo da Carpi’s
lives, with exceptional care. Annibale spent his early years under Ludovico’s tutelage
experimenting with naturalism during the early 1580s and then found opportunity for
new expression in Parma in 1585. The Pieta painted for the Capuchins was his most
Correggesque work to date, but its history and iconography has never attracted
much scholarly attention. The population of the small urban center o f Parma had
different artistic tastes from their Bolognese neighbors. As I explained, the
Parmesans greatly admired Correggio, who had expressed so well the religious
sentiments o f ordinary people. As relative newcomers to the town, the Capuchins
were eager to gain acceptance so Annibale painted an altarpiece for them in the
popular local style. The modernity o f the Pieta lies in its unprecedented Franciscan
iconography. And while scholars have neglected Bellori’s statement that Annibale
192
worked for the Famese family as a young man, there can be no doubt that the
Famese were closely associated with the Capuchins at the time.
Although future discoveries of new material will undoubtedly clarify or

challenge the conclusions I have advanced about the Carracci and their Reform, the
topic will certainly continue to attract attention, excite controversy, and tax the
imagination—like gold.
A p p e n d ic e s
A p p e n d ix A
E x c e r p ts F r o m I l F v n e r a l e d ’A g o s t in
C arjra ccio fa t t o i n B o lo g n a s v a pa t r ia
d a g l ’I n c a m i n a t i A c a d e m ic id e l D ise g n o
s c R i n o a l l ’I l l m o e t R M o Sig .R Ca r d in a l
Fa r n e se .
(Bo l o g n a : V it t o r io Be n a c c i , 1603)
Note: The following excerpts from the above-mentioned volume

(pages 44-52) reproduce all fourteen of the published verses composed
in honor of Agostino Carracci and appended to the walls o f the church
o f the Ospedale della M orte for his funeral on January 18,1603 (see p.
24 above). Most scholars are familiar with only five o f the texts
because they appear in biographies of the Carracci by Bellori (1672)
and Malvasia (1678). As w ith other illustrations in this study, the letter
“C.” followed by a number in the caption’s credit line indicates that
the image was taken from a microfiche o f a book in the Fondo
Cicognara of the Vatican Library. The numbers, in this case “1409”,
refer to an enty in Leopoldo Cicognara’s Catalogp ragionato dei libri
d'arte e d'anticbitaposseduti dal conte Ctcogrtara, 2 vols. (Pisa: N. Capurro,
1821). In addition to these verses, there exists in the Bibuoteca
Universitaria, Bologna, a group of fifty poems and songs that have yet
to be published. I list them in Appendix B below (see also p. 24
above).
194
195
44
IN M 0 R T £
D'AGOSTINO CARRACCI,
DI CESARE RINALDI.
IT TV R A) ePoefiafuore, e ccmpagne ,
Cbe quei^h'b-granpdtor, I gran poets,
Sofpirofe perboftbi, epermontagne
Vaganod Cimbrunir del lor pianeta,
£ v m j gara de Caltra , e flride e piagne
Uunpartuno vapor, che 7 folle vieta
£ felduol frangeil cor ,lamano fragne
ll crine, cfaggia kpiit chi mens'acquets.
Id'tfcra coppid, a voi quesio e quel Polo
Pin non intreccia i lauri\ hor con qttaiplume
Soprs qual Carro ve ne gite quoIo?
V el’hafpet&**o,cJP*rf o VHf ero Nttme
} Tolto vhd iIgran CARR ACC10 vn colpoJvlo
Chefit Carro, dr anriga al vo/lro fume .
D i Gabriel Bambail.
ARRACCIO ditto morire, ilVerbo. etemo

Cred'io ben che dicejjc. Algran Pittorc
- Hiaji usI Citlla fed s,
Chefia di fhd pieta degna mercede .
Stuejlik Pocckto mortalfi dole eff oft
Lemie ptaghe amoroft,
£ ‘l mio fan g iteti ftagedi, e'l rio fitdore
Nel tinto di pieta fmorto pallore\
Chemal graJo d'lnferno
Jdiltanime rubelle
Trafe almio Regno vbidioitfi onceHe.
DI
Ai. II Fvnerale (TAgpstin Carraccio..., Bologna, 1603, p. 44 (photo: C.

1409)
with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
196
D i Lorenzo A rrig h i.
VA L £ forme figura a I'huom finite

Prometto \ in cielfalto \ con {}e»ta / ac£
Parte muolo di luce at fo l: f irgace
Seef t : I'opra autttuo pocan^ vile ,
Tal (oHcntefilio pittor gtniile
In ctelo: a I"alba: at fol 1 alor vtuace
Turo, rat to f*gg'° > la manoaudacc
Vane forme auuiubcolvago f t tie,,
Jda come gia diCaucafo f u l monte
done punt Promotes; onde delvanto
T ra p miftro atfin pena infinite .
Cojial CARRACC 10 dal'alterafroute
11 crin vitalmorterecife. Ahi quanto
Ella cm del, com ei degno di v ita .
D i Lucio Faberio Acadcmico G elato; Sopra il volto di

Chrifto giudicc, dipinto da Agoftm C arracci.
V*L carro deUa tnente alciel traslato

l l gran CARRACCI comemplb prefente
. Del noutfitmo d i , git alti portentt;
Del giuUicante Verbo tl volto trato,
Santo penfier. La voile figurato
Per faluefâ , moslrar, di not eredenti i
Cli haurieni i*m t, el ombre obedientt
Grandelg.ajrorror,furor, maejld dato.
Perche fe t etnaa nutren\a induce
L'afpetto fo l del‘abbo\{ata imago
Quale daria terror I'vlttma mand>
Et lo preuidde con ftnterna lucey
T remo, smhorndt >p en to lontano
Gttto ilpenncllo, efedipiantovn lago.
E 3 Dd
A2. II Fvnerale (TAgpstin Carraccio..., Bologna, 1603, p. 45 (photo: C.

1409)
197
: 4* “
D clV clato AcaJemico Infcnfaco.
R A tu tt Oprc c tle fti opra fib h m e

Spirto g en tilfeto r d elgran fcn o v fiir e
Scmbraua-, ona a not fo rg e il b f H o f l buoAOy
Parca donef i e fo r m e intagha e im prim e
Spirando it C reator n o b il dcjire>
F regiafc a I ’eta noflraeccelfodonoy
Slnando. per m erauiglia cntrod lu i fin o
CowmofSi intantOy Am or, S enno, B ontade,
Ptrtttte, Accorgimento,e Gloria3c Pregio i
Chi fi t , u jfer tralor , di nobilfregio
Mento formata ft, chete beate ,
J-t fl'i'ji a ltra beltate
f f i - ‘ft aiguagli delf il e emula fle lld l
Opra3c)/cgni a ltra vin ce a lte ra , e bella.
Safi non gia d i v o i, m a d’a ltri in terra
. Spirtop:u .h ia ro e p ilt fubiim e ingegno ,
D ip fp:rto cullode in Ini voigendo
O n/fit opre entroalfiogremboilmondofirra j
Quante inprima fornio Fattorpin degno
Formara qttcfli emulofio pingendo,
Non f a qtamai per quant'to vdggio , e intendo
Manoped induflre, opik leggiadro ft He
Ch’i 'volte nofire} ancorCaltafembianâ ,
D i cui non e gid i l c ie l capaceflanzot
Rat colga tn p iccio l velo a D io fim ile j
N e p en n el ft g en tile,
C'habbia de v c i bet fim u la cri efp refst
Con pile be: mode in varie fo rm e im p re fi .
M anopotentefiy che oleraggio a m orte
Fara tornando alm e f t it belle in v ita
Q uandt
A3. 11 Fvnerale dAgpstin Carraccio..., Bologna, 1603, p. 46 (photo: C.

1409)
with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
198
47
£luAndogia fe n te oblio tenea fepolte3
Alme felici , cuif a dato inforte
Memoria hauer la gin degna3egradita
Di lorfembianze inpica terra accolte\
Sien pur dele lor membra I'almefcieltet
Ch'c ’t dard voce, e moto.eparli, efpiri
Sembrard quegli, cui L’imagin vera
Difuopennello f a pittiera altera;
Dolor, Tema>Dtfo, Gioia> e Martiri
IS Amorfe n fi, e fofpiri
An dra nel volto Jito quafi effigiando,
gualfimourd , qualtacerd parlando•
IlCielo , ilmotoe la Natura >e I'Arte
Comeglifol fen&d puropra altrui
Sapra, delfuo faper fa il grido chiaro >
Comejfetti, e cagion di parte inparte
Vedrd , fotmanao alti concettifu i
Di coo , che quefe manprim a crearo ,
Cos) non gia di fu e failure auaro
Id AcquaJl Fuoco, la T erra,Argento, &0ro>
Lepm nafcofeparti, epin remote
guelle, doue occhio humangiungernonpuote >
Monti, colli 5 cittadi, abetisalloro ,
Jr 'tumi, gemme, e teforo
Mofrard quafiinpoca telainuolto 71
E in picciolgiro il Monda tutto accolto .
Dolce tempra d'Amor3ch‘adefca , e molce
Anima arnica, e a bel defiofofpinge
Sard nonpur lo f i l , ma tl moto->e il vijo ,
doleel'oprar , dolce il parlar, e dotce
I l portA m e n t 0 fito, ch'icori aftringe
Ad amarlo f a fempre, e dolce il rijb ;
Petto crudo non &, ch'aWhor conquifi
T of0 non f a dtfuevirtuti 3e p*go3
<5 3**ndo
A4. II Fvnerale (fAgpstin Carraccio..., Bologna, 1603, p. 47 (photo: C.

1409)
4*
gnando a U mano vn dolce dir foaue
£ tlmotteggiar cbe dolcementee graue
Congiungerd,quando inproposla immago
Con modo Adorno , e vago
Rendera tl bellojlbruttojlvitio e'lmerto
Ifor con parole, horco t colon aperto.
Voi^che qui pro*,re alnafcerfuo volgete
ienigue il volto , tn UttfairAte a pteuo
Vos!re grant celtjlt, accorto, e faggio
Viurd qucftiper vo t , (plcnderan lu te
Stelle fa u tn ct , e dibontd nel feno
V ibrard qrtrndi sfauillantc vn ragîo.
Qui tacijue, ai fuo eac-rgtotaê coraggio
Prendeo I a Gloria, tndi diJpoHc il vanto
Seruarcterno cternamente in ciehi
JMorird ( diffe) bpur di morteil telo
Schiuerd quefltycui lodo cotantoy
11tub prefagto, e'l canto ?
Chi dona altrut la vitaingiuslo parml
Di tempo, e morte riafoggtaccta a fa r mi,
Vintt da Varte fua morte, e natura
Fard quafi vendetta . Pgh qui mojfe ,
T roneando a nobiltela tlflo adorno ,
Ma recifa hfol quindi ombra, efigure,
Ch'et fembra morto, efchernird lor pofjfe,
Facendo al tempo artifctofofcorno,
Viurd, viurd , ne fa maifpento ilgtorn #
A l vtuer fuo , viurd fempre net tort
Viurd ne I’opre fue ,i nel canto afterno
Sard di mifie cignt tl nome cterno;
Diranno ipregt fuoimutt colori
Pofctafra i neftrt chori
Vita mai fempre al mcrtofuo conforme
Viurd pingendopik legiadreforme.
Cefti
A§. II Fvnerale dAgostm Carraccio..., Bologna, 1603, p. 48 (photo: C.

1409)
of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

200
Cefsi ilpianto Alepndro , hor not content

Cangiar potrem 'vbct fnnebriin cdntu
Morto Agoflin nongii, ma vine , egodc.
Bramando io non potto. d'ognifua lode
Tejferghirlande in cpttsli honeri fa n ti >
JZuamdocib vid d i, eivan ti
Moflrommi il Cielme i fempiterni annali >
foiche tdce la terrd ofre tmmertali.
D ’Inccrto.
Ortunato Ptttore
Caro a l cielot e algran Re dcfim m i chert
Parti da not) nenmor'ty
Che in flit beataforte
A fregiaraltre tele ■>eetaltre carte
T en vai felice >e negli eterni chiofiro
£ fittorty epittnra hoggi ti mojlri •
£ nejli y the mortofctnbra

fitte r d'eccelfo ingegno-
Morto non I , mo nel beato Regno
Traslato fol\ perche contempliye miri
€ li eterni habitator defommigiri,
£ gode in rimirar, ch't fitoi colori
V oonO Ail* 4*OOOi+%ma mmm alm ono
9*0* p ro to jo tp
£ quanto efii ban d i vago

Cetanto efprima la dipinta imago,
i n
A6. II Fvnerale dAgostin Carraccto..., Bologna, 1 6 0 3 , p . 4 9 (photo: C.

1409)
201
I N 0 B I T V M
AVGVSTINI CARRACII
P I C T O R I S E X I M i l
A L E X A N D R J SANCTI
Elegia •
L E T 'S v/rijdefieteTigres,miferefcitecult
Cr maria bomjono gurgitefraclafonent.
Ecce dies , infanda dies tmmerfit acerbo
Fanere, qut vitam viuere dignus erat.
Viuere dignus erdt Carracists omne per auu
Ft trahere aternes, & fia t nttbe dies.
Nam finatura Jpcclafiesmunera, & ants >
Condita in auguflo miUefuere Jinn .
Jngenio poterat celfaspercurrere fedes
Aetberet luftrans regna fuperna poli.
Nec non irriguos fophia diffusedere riuos
Facundo promens aurea dtcia fono.
Pauca qutdem fartfolitus,fed plurima pasteis
Completti valuttmyfiicafenfanotis .
NuUinotus erat, cui non mirabtlis effete
Cui non virraisfigna rcpente daret,
Mine penderefuo multi die entis abort,
Et Upfume fumma fede putare virum .
Cetera factaceant: fatisiflum diacelebrat
Dextera, cuifimilis nulla reperta fa it •
Hec potuit vino effigies dnimare colore ,
Hac naturam artis faUere nouit ope.
Agnouere virum proceres, patresgjenatus
Purpurei, atque orbis Roma fuperba caput.
Hunc rapuere duces , rapuie Farnefia proles;
Parmagfed raptu quam malefauUafu o .
Namqtte
A7. I I Fvnerale efAgostin Carraccio..., Bologna, 1603, P- 5© (photo: C.
with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission
202
Namqaevbi Felfweis paultim ctftiffet dh oris

Delinquent patrq hmina chara fob .
Eheu dcpreffus morbi gravitate fubire
Cogitur hen vita fata immica fu a .
Itlefy vitales fenfim decrefcere vires
Dum videt, cr fummos adproperare dies,
0 fratres inquit chares , 0 Fetfina dulce,
E t Natale folum>deltci/fd medf.
Ah vtinampojfem, qua tu mini prima dedisli
Lamina nafcentt reddere, chara parens.
Et tibi.germanisefc me'ts, quit grat'tus vnquam
N il faitâbrupta dieere voce Vale.
Vos tamenabfentes capite hac fttfpirta fratres,
Et feraate decas, quod tulit alma manus,
Mox ego fydcreis viuam felicior oris,
Et potiar fummi regna beatapoli.
Sic att & medtosftngultus inter , Olympum
Refpicit, inde celer fpiritus aflrapetit,
Elete virii defiete Tygres, miferefcite cotli,
Et maria horrifeno gurgite frafta fonent,
Eiufdem diftichon.
D htinam Dcusartemvidit; defers terras

Inquit j dtgnapolaûificisjsliopolo,
. Ioannis B aptiftxLauri.
Icitur vndofos nunquam contingere compos
D Vrfa fe d arclois vfque nitereplagis
Net tua mergetur ( Magne Auguftine)fed vfque
(’Nam tuanecvirtas tendere ad ima poteft)
Nan montara olimviuetper faculaftcque
ta r shafts vrfa polo-, Carracls vrfa folo ,
Eiufdem.
A8. IlFvnerale dAgostin Carraccio..., Bologna, 1603, p. 51 (photo: C.

1409)
%a
Eiufdem .
Iderat eximia dccus admirabile dextra,
V Inq. ipfo vinos marmore, & Mere viros .
Indoluit natura parens. Etudarin artet
Et fragtles poterunt me fuperare menus ?
Non pat ta r , d ix it ; triplices exinde for ores
Inuocat > v t vita ffamina lenta f t cent;
Hand fegnes parent, M^tndat\^ dira facejfunt
Augujline tuisjic mbdo raptus obts.
1 V L I I S I G N ! ! .
P o c f is , & P i & u r * .
Ors tibi Carracium rapuit monuments. labor**
M 7 empus edaxtanti & conteret site vtri
Jiltus at nomen volitatper regna tonantis
Curra, cui cedit currus Apolltneus •
E iu fd e m .
A Vpttjlinus obit Carracius alter Apelles,

in ten t >atq\ artis concidit cmnts hom s .
In cerri.
Vid piclura doles Carraci funere ? vaturn
Carm in a perceltbriscunclapcr ora volat.
Qj In c c rr i.
E t atria A ueufane 5 omnis. te luoet ademtmm
i Italia , O ' Cbarttum^ Vtendumq chorus.
F I U I S. *
Fr.DanicI Mallonius Reuifor.

Impnnrwur.
Fr. Alcyfius de Vrceis Vicar.Inquifir. Bonon.
IN U O i O G N A, A ppnflo VmoFioBcnaccMtfo$.
Cm 4 d* Snferiori.
A9. II Fvnerale dAgostin C a rra ccio Bologna, 1603, p. 52 (photo: C.

1409)
of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission

A p p e n d ix B
L is t O f F if t y V erses I n P r a ise O f
A g o s t in o C a r r a c c i . B o l o g n a ,
B ib l io t e c a U n iv e r s it a r ia
m s 1771 (3 8 8 6 ) B u st a I I
[Poesie varie “Alsig. Agostino Carracciopittore”}
Note: In addition to the verses first published in Bologna in 1603 (see

Appendix A and p. 24 above), the examples listed below were
composed for Agostino Carracci’s funeral. T he only published
reference to the manuscripts, to my knowledge, is in Inventari dei
manoscritti delle biblioteche a lta lia , vol. 17, (Florence: Leo S. Olschki,
1917), pp. 114-15, no. 1771. The titles given below are based on
information in the Inventari dei manoscrittt, which is one volume of a
series of catalogs dating back to 1890 and still ongoing. Typically, the
citations for individual manuscripts give the first line o f each record,
which is the case below, or summanzed the contents o f documents,
indicating the name or names of those mentioned therein. The fifty
verses listed here appear in a busta containing twelve sonnets “In morte
di Papa TJrbano VI/ and five others apparently with no unifying theme.
All o f the work and ten more buste o i “Poesie varie” had belong to a V.
Zanetti before the Biblioteca Universitaria, Bologna, acquired them
and are register as MS 1771 (3886). The following abbreviations are used
to characterize individual works: son. (sonetto) for sonnet, ball. (ballata)
for ballad, canz. {canzone) for song, and madg. (madrigale) for madrigal. I
have not yet to discover the identity of Giovanni Giacomo Algardi,
who signed number forty-eight. Furthermore, the numbering system I
have employed is my own and has no archival significance.
1. A ltru i viva mostrar mortapittura (son.)

2. Cresce in bumil terren nobil virgulto (son.)
3. Amor m i risveglio mentr’io dormiva (son.)
4. Per sciorre il cor ogni miaforza unisco (son.)
204
5. Lingua non ho che buon voterpareggi (son.)
6. Realfanciulla in habito cortese (son.)
7. Come specchio in cui splenda it vero sole (son.)
8. Tenebrosa in si stessa e la mia mente (son.)
9. A ljbco deldisirfiori speme (son.)
10. Sorto il granfascio de'miei tristi darmi (son.)
11. N utritiva speranza il cor digiuno (son.)
12. Non di quelsol che‘l tempo a noi comparte (son)
13. Lucida Stella, che digiomo splendi (son.)
14. Posto al nero destrierpietate il rnorso (son.)
15. D ’uno squallor vetusto horrida il volto (son.)
16. Se non si vince amor se nonfuggendo (son.)
17. E’diventuto questo cor mischino (son.)
18. Qyando dalprimo amore (ball)
19. Oh che infelice stato (ball)
20. Donna crudel, ch’hai dor le trezzie (ball.)
21. Vorrei morire (canz.)
22. Am anti, hormai vivete (ball)
23. Crudel m’uccidi (ball)
24. Mirando a casogli aurei tuoi capelli (ball)
25. Perchi si cruda efiera (ball)
26. M iparto, ahilsorte ria (ball)
27. Panto v ’ama questa’alma afflitta e trista (ball)
28. Le lacrime ch’io sparsi un tempo ahi lasso! (ball)
29. Lasso! quantopiupiango epiii m i doglio (ball)
30. Perche non ho speranza, donna, hormai (ball)
31. Poi ch’io non ho speranza de mirare (madr)
32. M araviglia non e se amor m’assale (ball)
33. Superbi colli e voisacre ruine (ball)
34. Io m i sento morire (ball)
35. Vorria morire (ball)
36. 0 amante meschino (ball)
37. Vorria saper da voi, occhi immortali (ball)
38. Se’lm io morir v i igrata (ball)
39. E col riso oparlare (ball)
40. Un autore che scrisse (ball)
41. Tanti m artir m i date {ball)
42. Amor infocho ardente {ball)
43. Donna, se lo mio cuore {ball)
44. Da pot che lafortuna iniqua e ria {ball)
45. Dolor,pena, martir vogliopergioco {ball)
46. Tra questi duoi entrarmi io vo’a la mensa {ball)
47. Per ampi boschi e solitari orrori {ball)
48. Qyalsdegno anima mia, qualsdegno m’osa {madr)
(signed: Io Gio. Giacomo Algardi Bon)
49. Fuggi,juggi, dolente core {ball)
50. 0 voi\ ch’amor sentite {cam)
A p p e n d ix C
C u t-A w a y D ia g r a m o f t h e P a la z z o
F a v a , B o lo g n a , S h o w in g t h e P ia n o
N obile
207
208
(Diagram adapted from Bologna 1984, p. 331)
1. Camerino formerly containing painted paneling attributed to

Annibale Carracci by Cesare Mahrasia
2. Camerino cfEuropa containing frescoes (ca. 1579/80) by the Carracci
3. Sola di Giasone containing frescoes (dated 1584) by the Carracci
4. Sala di Enea containing frescoes (ca. 1578) by the Carracci
5. Saletta di Enea containing frescoes (ca. 1595-96) by Francesco Albani
6. Saletta di Enea containing frescoes (ca. 1598) by Bartolomeo Cesi
B ib l io g r a p h y
210
B ib l io g r a p h y
B o o k s A n d A r t ic l e s
A d o m i 1979
Adomi, Bruno, et al. L’A bbazia benedettina di San Giovanni Evangelista a Parma.
Parma: Cassa di Risparmio di Parma, 1979.
A ffo 1 7 8 4
Affb, Ireneo. Vita delgraziosissimopittore Francesco M azzola detto Parmigianino.
Parma: Filippo Carmignani, 1784.
Aflfo 1796
Affb, Ireneo. II Parmigiano servitor di piazza owero dialoghi di Frombola ne’quali
dopo varie notizie interessante su la pitture di Parma si porge il catalog) delle
principali. Parma: Filippo Carmignani, 1796.
A rcan geli 1956
Arcangeli, Francesco. “Sugli inizi dei Carracci,” Paragone CXXIX (1956), pp. 17-
48.
A rcher 1995
Archer, Madeline Cirilllo. The Illustrated Bartscb, 28 Commentary. New York:
Abaris, 1995.
A sk ew 1969
Askew, Pamela. “The Angelic Consolation of St. Francis of Assisi in Post-
Tridentine Painting,” Journal o f the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes XXXII
(1969), pp. 280-306.
B aglion e 1642
Baglione, Giovanni. Le vite de'pittori, scvltori et architetti. D al pontificato di
Gregorio XIII. del 1572. Infin o a'tempi di Papa Vrbano Ottauo nel 1042. Scritte da
Gio. Baglione Romano e dedicate all'eminentisstmo, e reuerendissimoprincipe Girolamo
Card. Colonna. Rome: Andrea Fei, 1642.
Baldinm cci 1 681-1728
Baldinucci, Filippo. Notizie de\professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua,per le quali
si dimostra come, e per chi le belt' arti di pittura, scultura, e architettura lasciata la
rozzezza delle maniere greca, e gpttica, si siano in questi secoli ridotte a llantica loro
perfezione. Opera di Filippo Baldinvcci Florentine distinta in secoli, e decennali. 6
vols. Florence: Santi Franchi, 1681-1728.
211
B a ra sch l9 8 5
Barasch, Moshe. Theories in A rt From Plato to Winkelmann. New York: New
York University Press, 1985.
B a r o cd n l9 6 0 -6 2
Barocchi, Paolo. Trattati d'arte del Cinquecento, fra manierismo e Controriforma.
Bari: G. Laterza, 1960-62.
B arolsky 1986
Barolsky, Paul “Review of Giulio Mazzoni e la decorazione a Roma nella cerchia di
Daniele da Volterra by Teresa Pugliatti,” A rt Bulletin LXVIII (1986), pp. 334-36.
B arolsky 1990
Barolsky, Paul. Michelangelo’s Nose: A M yth and Its Maker. University Park, Pa.:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990.
B arolsky 1994
Barolsky, Paul. Michelangelo and the Poetic Origins o f Italian Renaissance A rt.
University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994.
B a m 1671
Barri, Giacomo. Viaggto pittoresco, in cui si notano distintamente tutte le pitture
famose...cke si conservano in qualsivoglia citta del’Italia. Venice: G. G. Herz, 1671.
B a ttisti 1989
Battisti, Eugenio. L ’Antirinascimento; con tm’appendice di testi inediti. 2nd.
Edition. Milan: Garzanti, 1989.
B ellin i 1975
Bellini, Paolo. “Printmakers and Dealers in Italy During the 16th and 17th
Centuries,” Print Collector X III (1975), p p . 17-45.
Benoril657
Bellori, Giovanni Pietro. Argomento della Galeria Famese dipinta da Annibale
Carracci disegnata e intagiata da Carlo Cesio, nel qulale spiegansi e riduconi
allegoricamente alia moraltta le favole poetiche in essa rappresentate. Rome: n.p.,
1657.
B ello ri 1672
Bellori, Giovanni Pietro. Le vite de’p ittori, scultori e architetti modemi. Rome:
Mascardi, 1672.
B ello ri ed. 1976
Bellori, Giovanni Pietro. Le vite de’p ittori, scultori e architetti modemi. Edited by
Evelina Borea with an introduction by Giovanni Previtali. Turin: G. Einaudi,
1976.
B e n a til9 8 2
Benati, Daniele. “L’attivita bolognese di Cesare Aretusi,” II Carrobbio, R ivista
di StudiBolognesi VTII (1982), pp. 37-50.
B en a ti 1999
Benati, Daniele. “Annibale Carracci’s Beginnings in Bologna: Between Nature
and History.” In Washington 1999 (the full reference is given among the
exhibition catalogues listed below), pp. 41-47.
212
B erendsen 1961
Berendsen, Olga. “The Italian Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century
Catafalques.” Pn.D. diss., New York University, 1961.
B ertoh izzi 1830
Bertoluzzi, Giuseppe. Nuovissima Guidaper osservare lepitture si a olio che a fresco
esistenti attualmente nelle chiese di Parma. Parma, 1830.
B ieren s de H aan 1948
Bierens de Haan, J. C. J. L ’oeuvre grave de Cornelius Cort, graveur hollandais 1333-
1378. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1948.
B ib lioteca 1999
La biblioteca monumentale deWAbbazia di San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma:
D ivitiae salutis sapientia etscientia a cura dei monaci del Monastero di San Giovanni
Evangelista, con il contributo della fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Parma. Parma:
Benedettina editrice 99,1999.
B illo t 2001
Billot, Claude-Charles. Les Capucins: urn riforme franciscaine au XVIe sikle.
Nantes: Siloe, 2001.
B lack 1990
Black, Robert. “Italian Renaissance Education: Changing Perspectives and
Continuing Controversies,”Journal ofthe History o f Ideas LII (1990;, pp. 315-34.
B lack 1991
Black, Robert. “The Curriculum of the Italian Elementary and Grammar
Schools.” In The Shapes o f Knowledge from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment
(InternationalArchives o f the History o fIdeas 124). Edited by D. R. Kelley and R.
H. Popkin. Dordrecht and Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.
B leek e-B ym e 1984
Bleeke-Byme, Gabriele. “The Education of the Painter in the Workshop.” In
Providence 1984 (the full reference is given among the exhibition catalogues
listed below), pp. 28-39.
B lunt 1 9 3 7 -3 8
Blunt, Anthony. “Poussin’s Notes on Painting,” Journal o f the Warburg and
CourtauldInstitute I (1937-38), pp. 344-45.
B odm er 1924
Bodmer, Heinrich. “Die Jugendwerke Annibale Carraccis,” Zeitschrift fu r
Bildende Kunst L V III (1924), pp. 104-13.
B odm er 1935
Bodmer Heinrich. “L’Accademia de’ Carracci,” II Comune di Bologia X III
(i935), PP- 6 i-74 -
B odm er 1939
Bodmer, Heinrich. Lodovico Carracci. Burg: M. A. Hopfer, 1939.
B odm er 1939b
Bodmer, Heinrich. “Le note marginali di Agostino Carracci nell’edizione del
Vasari del 1568,” II Vasari, R ivista dArte e di Studi Cinquecenteschi X (1939), pp.
89-127.
213
B ohn 1 9 8 4
Bohn, Babette. “The Chalk Drawings of Ludovico Carracci,” Master D raw ing
XXII (1984), p p . 405-25.
B oh n 1 9 9 2
Bohn, Babette. The Illustrated Bartsch 39 Commentary Part 2. Italian Masters o f
the Sixteenth Century. New York: W alter L. Strauss, 1992.
Bohn 1995
Babette Bohn, The Illustrated Bartsch 39: Commentary Part 1. Agostino Carracci.
New York: W alter L. Strauss, 1995.
B ologna 1 9 5 6
Bologna, Francesco. “Lo Sposalizio di Santa Caterina di Annibale Carracci,”
Paragone CXXXIII (1956), pp. 3-12.
B ologna 1 6 0 3
II Funerale cTAgpstin Carraccio fatto in Bologia sua patria da gFIncaminati
Academici del Disegno scritto a ll lU.mo et R.mo SigX Cardinal Famese. Bologna:
Vittorio Benacci, 1603.
B orghini 1 5 8 4
Borghini, Rafaello. II Riposo di Raffaello Borghini: in cui della pittura, e della
scultura si fauella, de’p iu illustri pittort, e scultori, e delle piufamose opere loro si fa
mentione; e le cose principali appartenenti a dette arti s’insegiano. Florence: Giorgio
Marescotti, 1584.
B o rto lo tti 1956
Giacomo Bortolotti, ‘II Grand Hotel Majestic Baglioni,” Bologia Turistica II
(1956), pp. 46-53.
B oschloo 1 9 7 4
Boschloo, Anton W. A. Annibale Carracci in Bologna: Visible Reality in A rt A fter
the Council o f Trent. 2 Vols. Gravenhage: Staatsdrukkerij, 1974.
B oschloo 1 9 8 4
Boschloo, Anton W. A. Ilfreg o dipinto a Bologia da Nicold deU'Abate ai Carracci,
1330-1380. Translated into Italian by Emilio Carosi. Bologna : Nuova Alfa,
1984.
B oschloo 19 8 8
Boschloo, Anton W . A. “La fortuna degli affireschi bolognesi dei Carracci
nella letteratura artistica,” in Les Carrache et les cUcorsprofanes. Actes du CoUoque
organise par I'Mcole Jranfaise de Rome , pp. 457-76. Rome: Hcole franâise de
Rome, 1988
B oschloo 19 9 3
Boschloo, Anton W. A., ed. Italian painting from the sixteenth century in Dutch
public collections. Translated from the Dutch by Mandy Sikkens. Florence:
Centro Di, 1993.
B o tta r il7 5 4
Bottari, Giovanni. Raccolta di lettere sullapittura, scultura ed achitettura scritte da’
piucelebripersonagg deisecoli X V le X V II. Vol. 1. Rome: Pasquino, 1754.
214
B o ttari 1 8 2 2-25
Bottari Giovanni Gaetano and Stefano Ticozzi. Raccolta di lettere sulla pittura,
scultura ed architettura scritte da’p iu cekbripersonaggi dei secoli X V , X V I, e X V II,
pubblicata da M. Gio. Bottari, e continuatafino a i nostrigiom i da Stefano Ticozzi. 7.
Vols. Milano: G. Silvestri, 1822-25.
B row n 19 9 0
Brown, Clifford M. “The Picture Gallery o f Gerolamo Garimberto Offered
to the Duke of B a v a ria Journal o f the Htstory o f Collections II (1990), p p . 199-
203.
B rngn oli 1956
Brugnoli, Maria Vittoria. “N ote alia Mostra dei Carracci,” Bollettino darte XLI
(1956), pp. 356-60.
C ad ioli 1763
Cadioli, Giovanni. Descrizione dellepitture, sculture, ed architetture che si osservano
nella cittd di Mantova e ne’suoi contomi: data in luce a comodo singplarmente de’
forestieri da Giovanni Cadioli, pittor mantovano ed architetto teatrale; dedicata a sua
eccellenza il signor don Carlo.... Mantua: Alberto Pazzoni, 1763.
C am m erota 1984
Cammerota, Gian Peiro “I Carracci e le Accademie.” In Bologna 1984 (the
full reference is given among the exhibition catalogues listed below), pp. 293-
321.
C am m erota 1988
Cammarota, Gian Piero. “Cronache della Compagnia dei pittori.” In Bologna,
1988 (the full reference is given among the exhibition catalogues listed below),
pp. 53-68.
C am pori 18 7 0
Campori, Giuseppi. Raccolta di catabghi ed Inventarii Inediti di Qyadri, Statue,
Disegra, Bronzi, A vorii, ecc. dalsecob X V al secob X IX . Modena: Carlo Vincenzi,
1870.
C a r a z z il5 7 9
Carazzi [Carracci], Carlo. Modo del dividere Falluvioni da quelb di Bartob et gli
agrimensori diverso. Mostrato con ragioni Mathematiche, ir con pratica. Bologna:
Giovanni Rossi, 1579.
C arrazzi 1 5 8 0
Carazzi [Carracci], Carlo. DVBITATIONI D’A VTORE INCERTO CONTRO IL MODO
DEL DIVIDERE l ’a l l w i o n i TROVATO d a Ca r l o Ca r r a z z i detto il Cremona. E t
Risposte fa tte da lui, con vn Difcorfo contra il modo accettato da vn dottore
Parmeggtan. Bologna: Giovanni Rossi, 1580.
C artari 15 5 6
Cartari, Vincenzo. Le imagini con la spositione d i dei de gliantkhi raccolte per
Vincenzo Cartari. Venice: Francesco Marcolini, 1556.
C h ie s e l9 7 8
Chiese e conventi d i Parma. Edited by Felice da Mareto. Parma: Deputazione
per le province parmensi, 1978.
215
C hristiansen 1990
Christiansen, Keith. “W orking from Life in the Accademia dei Desiderosi.”
In Scritti in onore di Giuliano Bnganti. Milan: Einaudi, 1990, pp. *35-45 -
C hristiansen 2000
Christiansen, Keith. “Ludovico Carracci’s Newly Recovered Lamentation,”
Burlington Magazine CXLII (2000), p. 416-22.
C hvostal 2 0 0 2
Chvostal, John. “Malvasia’s ‘Mis-Prints’ and His Contribution to Print
Scholarship.” In Dear Print Fan; A Festschriftfor M arjorie B. Cohn. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University A rt Museums, 2002, pp. 63-67.
C iardi 1965
Ciardi, Roberto. “Struttura e significato delle opere teoriche del Lomazzo,”
Critica (farte XII (1965), pp. 20-30; and, XIII, 1966, pp. 37-44.
C ooney/M alafarini 1976
Cooney, Patrick J. and Gianfranco Malafarina. L'opera completa di Annibale
Carracci. Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1976.
C ropper 1984
Cropper, Elizabeth. The Ideal o f Painting: Pietro Testa’s Dusseldorf Notebook.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
C ropper 1987a
Cropper, Elizabeth. Review o f The Age o f Correggio and the Carracci, Burlington
Magazine CXXIX (1987), pp. 270-73.
C ropper 1987b
Cropper, Elizabeth. “Tuscan History and Emilian Style.” In Emilian Painting
o f the 16th and 17th Centuries: A Symposium {Centerfo r the Advanced Study in the
Visual A rts, National Gallery o f A rt, Washington, D.C.), pp. 51-52. Bologna:
Nuova Alfa, 1987.
C ropper 1991
Cropper, Elizabeth. “ La piu bella antichita che sappiate desiderare’: History
and Style in Giovan Pietro Bellori’s “Lives’,” Kunst tend Kunsttheorie 1400-1900,
WolfenbuttelerForschungen XLVIII (1991), pp. 145-73.
C ropper/D em psey 1987
Cropper, Elizabeth, and Charles Dempsey. “The State of Research in Italian
P ain tin g of the Seventeenth Century,”A rt Bulletin LXIX (1987), pp. 494-509.
C ropper/D em psey/Pepper 1989

Cropper, Elizabeth; Charles Dempsey; and D. Stephen Pepper. “An
Exchange on the ‘State o f Research in Italian 17th-Century Painting,’” A rt
Bulletin LXXI (1989), pp. 305-309.
D e F anti 1995
D e Fanti, Laura. “All’ombra di Annibale. Riflessi e tangere carraccesche in
artisti del Seicento a Roma.” In La scuola dei Carracci: I seguaci di Annibale e
Agostino, eds.Edited by Emilio Negro and Massimo Pirondini. Modena:
Artioli, 1995.
216
D e V ere 1996
Vasari, Giorgio. Lives o f the Painter, Sculptures, and Architects. Translated by
Gaston du CT de Vere with introduction and notes by David Ekserdjian. New
York and Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
D eG razia 1998
Diane DeGrazia, “Carracci Drawings in Britain and the State of Carracci
Studies,” Master Drawings XXXVI (1998), pp. 292-304
D el P rato 1908
Del Prato, Alessandro. “II testamento di Maria di Portogallo, moglie di
Alessandro Famese.” Archivio storico per le province parmensi V III (1908), p p .
I47-I99-
D em p sey 1977
Dempsey, Charles. Annibale Carracci and the Beginnings o f the Baroque Style LVilla
I Tatti Studies III). Gliickstadt: J. J. Augustin Verlag, 1977.
D em psey 1980
Dempsey, Charles. “Some Observations on the Education of Artists in
Florence and Bologna During the Later Sixteenth Century,” A rt Bulletin LXII
(1980), pp. 552-69.
D em p sey 1985
D em p sey , Charles. “Carracci” (review of Washington 1979), Print Qyarterly II
(1985), pp. 63-66.
D em p sey 1986a
Dempsey, Charles. 1986a “The Carracci Postille to Vasari’s Lives,”A rt Bulletin
LXVIII (1986), pp. 552-59.
D em p sey 1986b
Dempsey, Charles. “Malvasia and the Problem of the Early Raphael and
Bologna.” In Raphael Before Rome {Studies in the History o f A rt V), pp. 57-70.
Washington D. C.: The National Gallery of Art, 1986.
D em psey 1987
Dempsey, Charles. “The Carracci and the Devout Style in Emilia.” In Emilian
Painting o f the 16th and ijth Centuries: A Symposium {Centerfo r the Advanced Study
in the VisualArts, National Gallery o f A rt, Washington, D.C.). pp. 75-87. Bologna:
Nuova Alfa, 1987.
D em p sey 1989
Dempsey, Charles. “The Carracci Academy.” In Academies o f A rt Between the
Renaissance and Romanticism {Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek V-VI). Edited by
Anton W . A. Boschloo. Delft: Delftsche uitg. mij, 1989, pp. 33-43.
D em p sey 1990
D em p sey , Charles. “Gli studi sui Carracci: lo stato della questione,” A rte a
Bologna: bollettino dei musei civici (farte antica I (1990), p p . 21-31.
D i G iarnnaolo/M iizzi 1989
D i Giampaolo, Mario, and Andrea Muzzi. Correggio: J disegni. Turin: U.
Allemancu, 1989.
217
D iseg n i 1998
Disegni della Donazione Marcel Puech al Museo Calvet di Avignone. Edited by
Sylvie Beguin, Mario Di Giampaolo, and Philippe Malgouyres. 2 vols.
Naples: Paparo, 1998.
D om en ich i 1559
Domenichi, Lodovico. Ragionamento m l qual siparla cfimprese d'armi et d'amore
Milan: Giovanni Antonio de gli Antonii, 1559.
E kserdjian 1997
Ekserdjian, David. Correggio. New Haven and London: Yale University Press,
1997.
E len 1 9 8 9
Elen, Albert J. Missing Old Master Drawings from the Franz Koenigs Collection:
Claimed by the State o f The Netherlands. W ith the assistance of Jacob Voorthuis.
The Hague: SDU Publishers; Netherlands Office for Fine Arts, 1989.
E n ggass 1968
Enggass, Robert and Catherine. The Lives o f Annibale & Agpstino Carracci by
Giovanni Pietro Bellori. Translated by Catherine Enggass with foreword by
Robert Enggass. University Park, Pa., & London: The Pennsylvanian Sate
University Press, 1968.
E velyn 1662
Evelyn, John. Sculptura: or the History, and A rt o f Chalcography and Engraving on
Copper. London: G. Beedle, 1662.
F a n ti 1979
Fanti, Mario. “Le Postille carraccesche alle ‘V ite’ del Vasari: II testo
originate,” II Carrobbio V (1979), pp. 148-64.
Fanri 1980
Fanti, Mario. “Ancora suite postille carracchesche all ‘Vile1 del Vasari: In
buona parte sono di Annibale, / / Carrobbio VI (1980), pp. 136-41.
F eigenbaum 19 8 4
Feigenbaum, Gail. “Lodovico Carracci: A Study o f his Later Career and a
Catalogue of His Paintings,” Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1984.
F eigenbaum 1989
Feigenbaum, Gail. “T h e “Kiss o f Judas’ by Ludovico Carracci,” Record o f the
A rt Museum Princeton University XLVIII (1989), pp. 3-18.
F eigenbaum 1990
Feigenbaum, Gail. “Drawing and Collaboration in the Carracci Academy” In
Essays Honoring Irving Lavin on H is Sixtieth Birthday. Ed. Marilyn Aronberg
Lavm. New York: Italica Press, 1990, pp. 145-65.
F eigenbaum 1990a
Feigenbaum, Gail. “Drawing and Collaboration in the Carracci Academy” In
Essays Honoring Irving Lavin on H is Sixtieth Birthday. Ed. Marilyn Aronberg
Lavin. New York: Italica Press, 1990, pp. 145-65.
2l8
Feigenbaum 1990b
Feigenbaum, GaiL “The Early History of Lodovico Carracci’s Annunciation
Altar-piece,” Burlington Magazine CXXXII (1990), pp. 616-22.
Feigenbaum 1992
Feigenbaum, GaiL “W hen The Subject Was Art: T he Carracci As Copyists.”
In II Luogo ed il ruolo della cittd di Bologna tra Europa Continentale e mediterranea
(A ttidel Colloquio C .I.H A . 1990), pp. 297-308. Bologna; Nuova Alfa, 1992.
F eigenbaum 1993
Feigenbaum, Gail. “Practice in the Carracci Academy.” In The A rtist’s
Workshop CStudies in the History o f A rt XXXVIII). Washington D.C.: National
Gallery of Art, 1993, pp. 59-76.
F o r a td 1913
Foratti, Aldo. I Carracci nella teoria e nellapractica. Citta di Castello: S. Lapi,
1913.
F ortu n ati P ietrantonio 1986
Fortunati Piertantonio, Vera. “Prospero Fontana.” In Pittura bologriese deFyoo.
Edited, by Vera Fortunati Piertantonio. Vol. r. pp. 339-49. Bologna: Grafis
Edizioni, 1986..
F ra ti 1988-93
Frati Cappuccini: Documents e Testimonianze del Primo Secolo. 5 vols. Edited by
Costanzo Cargnoni. Perugia: Edizioni Frate Indovino, 1988-93.
F ried laender 1926
Friedlaender Walter. “Contributo alia cronologia e alTiconografia di Lodovico
Carracci,” Cronache (Farte III (1926), pp. 133-44.
F ried laender 1942
Friedlaender, Walter. Review o f Ludovico Carracci, by Heinrich Bodmer. In
A rt Bulletin XXIV (1942). pp. 190-95.
F ried laender 1957
Friedlaender, Walter. Mannerism and Anti-Mannerism in Italian Painting. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1957.
F r u g o n i1993
Frugoni, Chiara. Francesco e Finvenzione delle stimmate: urn storia per parole e
immaginifinoaBonaventurae Giotto. Torino: G. Einaudi, 1993.
G arin 1989
Garin, Eugenio. L ’educazione in Europa (1400-1600):problemi eprogrammi. 1st ed.
Bari: Laterza, 1957.
G a ttil8 8 9
Gatti, Angelo. La Fabbrica di S. Petronio. Indagini storiche. Bologna: Regia
Tipografia, 1889.
G e h ll9 9 3
Gehl, Paul F. A M oral A rt- Grammar, Society, and Culture in Trecento Florence.
Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993.
219
G eiger/G uillaum e 1974

Geiger, Monique and Marguerite Guillaume, Dessins de la collection H is de La
Salle: Palais des Utats de Bourgogne, 1974. Musee des beaux-arts, Dijon. Dijon:
Musee des beaux-arts, 1974.
G heza F abbri 1978-79
Gheza Fabbri, Lia. “Le adunanze seerete dei carpentieri bolognesi (1573-1574),”
A tti della accademia delle scienze defflstituto di Bologia. Classe di scienze morali.
Rendiconti LVII (1978-79), vol. 2, pp. 25-00.
G heza Fabbri 1980
Gheza Fabbri, Lia. “Drappieri, strazzarroli, zavaeli: una compagnia bolognese
fra il XVI e il XVIII secolo , IICarrobbio VI (19807, pp. 164-000
G heza F abb ri 1983
Gheza Fabbri, Lia. “Per lo studio delle corporazioni bolognesi fira il XVI e il
XVIII secolo: i Libri matricularum,” Economia e storia IV (1983), p. 255-268.
G iovio 1555
Giovio, Paolo. Dialog) deWimprese militari et amorose di Monsignor Paolo Giovio,
Vescovo diNucera.... Rome: Antonio Barre, 1555.
G iovio 1556
Giovio, Paolo. Ragonamento di monsignor Paolo Giovio sopra i m otti e disegti
d’arme et d'amore che comunemente chiamano imprese. Venice: Giordano Ziletti,
1556.
G ohorry 1563
Gohorry, Jacques. Histoire deJason etdela conquete de la toison dor. Paris: Jacques
Gohorry, 1563.
G old stein 1988
Goldstein. Carl. Visual Fact over Verbal Fiction: A Study o f the Carracci and the
Criticism. Theory and Practice o f A rt in Renaissance and Baroque Italy. Cambridge
and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
G old stein 1988
Goldstein, Carl. Visual Fact Over Verbal Fiction: A Study o f the Carracci and the
Criticism, Theory, and Practice o fA rt in Renaissance and Baroque Italy. Cambridge
and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
G ould 1976
Gould, Cecil. The Paintings o f Correggio. London: Faber, 1976.
G ould 1976
Gould, Cecil. Parmigianino. New York: Abbeville Press, 1995.
G ra sm a n l9 9 6
Grasman, Edward. “Vasari en Bologna: een moeizame verhouding,” Incontri
XI (1996), pp. 55-63.
G rass 1975
Grass, Tim. “Een nieuwe interpretatie van Lodovico Carracci’s Visioen van
Antonius van Padua’,” Bulletin vanbetRijksmuseum X X III (1975), p p . 1173-75.
220
G rariani 1988
Graziani, Alberto. Bartolomeo Cesi. W ith essays by Francesco Abbate and
Mario di Giampaolo. Bussero, Milano: A. Dalerba, 1988.
G regori 1989
Gregori, Mina. “Federico Zuccari a Fiorenze: un punto di vista,” Paragpne
XLIX (1989), pp. 9-45.
G rendler 1989
Grendler, Paul Schooling in Renaissance Italy. Baltimore and London: The
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.
G rendler 1990
Grendler, Paul. “Reply to Robert Black,” Journal o f the History o f Ideas LII
(i 9 9 i),pp. 335-37.
G rendler 1993
Grendler, Paul. “Form and Function in Italian Renaissance popular books,”
Renaissance Quarterly XXXXVI (1993), pp. 451-85.
G ualandi 1840
Gualandi, Michelangelo, ed. Memorie originals' italiane risguardanti le belle arti.
Vol. I. Bologna: J. Marsigli, 1840.
G uid icin i 1868-1873
Guidicini, Giuseppe. Cose notabili della citta di Bologna, ossia, Storia cronologica de‘
suoi stabili sacri, pubblici e privati. Edited by Ferdinando Guidicini. Bologna: G.
Vitali, 1868-1873.
H arris 1994
Harris, Ann Sutherland. “Ludovico, Agostino, Annibale: ‘...l’abbiam fatta
tutti noi’,” Accademia Clementina: A tti e memorie XXXIII-XXXIV (1994), pp. 69-
84.
H arris 1999
Harris, Ann Sutheland. “Artemisia Gentileschi: The Literate Illiterate or
Learning from Example.” In Docere, Delectare, Movere. A ffetti, devoziorte e
retorica nel linguaggjo artistico del primo barocco romano. (A tti del convegno
organizzato daulstituto Olandese a Roma e dalla Bibliotheca Hertziana [Max-
P/anck-Institut] in collaborazione con fUniversitd Cattolica di Nijmegen, Roma), pp.
105-20. Rome: Edizioni D e Luca, 1999.
H arris 20 0 0
Harris, Ann Sutherland. “Agostino Carracci’s Inventions: Pen-And-Ink
Studies, 1582-1602,”Master Drawing? XXXVIII (2000), pp. 393-423.
H erberm ann 1913
Herbermann, Charles George, et al. eds. The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:
Encyclopedia Press Inc., 1913.
H ope 1 9 8 4
Hope, Charles. “The Historians of Venetian Painting.” In London, 1984 (the
full reference is given among the exhibition catalogues listed below), pp. 38-
40.
221
In ven tario 1935

Inventario dealt oggetti (farte dltalia. Vol. 3. Provincia di Parma. Edited by
Edoardo Arslan. Rome: Libreria dello stato, 1934.
J a ffe 1956
Jaffe, Michael. “The Carracci Exhibition at Bologna,” Burlington Magazine
XCVIII (1956), p p . 392-401.
J a ffe 1994
Jaffe, Michael. The Devonshire Collection o f Italian Drawings, voL 2, Bolognese and
Emilian Schools. London: Phaidon Press, 1994.
J o h n sto n 1967
Johnston, Catherine. “Review of Gli’affresci dei Carracci in palazzo Fava by
Anna Ottani,” Burlingjton Magazine CIX (1967), p p . 596-97.
J o h n sto n 1971
Johnston, Catherine. II Seicento e ilsettecento a Bologna. Milan: Fabbri, 1971.
K anffm aim 1973
Kauffmann, Claus MichaeL Catalogue o f Paintings, 1. Before 1800. London:
Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973.
K em p 1987
Kemp, Martin. “E qual Excellences’: Lomazzo and the Explanation of
Individual Style in the Visual Arts’, Renaissance Studies I (1987), pp. 1-26.
K itso n 1997
Kitson, Michael. “Denis Mahon: Art Historian and Collector.” I n London
1997 (the full reference is given among the exhibition catalogues listed below),
pp. 8-21.
K lein 1970
Klein, Robert. La Forma et fintelligible: Ecrits sur la Renaissance et Fart modeme.
Paris, 1970.
K lein /Z em er 1989
Klein, Robert, and H enri Zemer. Italian A rt, 1500-1600: Sources and Documents.
2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall Inc: 1989.
K urz 1937
Kurz, Otto. “A Forgotten Masterpiece by Ludovico Carracci,” Burlington
Magazine LXX (1937), p . 81.
K urz 1955
Kurz, Otto. Bolognese Drawings o f the X V II & X V III Centuries in the Collection o f
Her Majesty the Qyeen a t Windsor Castle. London: Phaidon, 1955.
L abalm e/W hite 1999 ___
Labalme, Patricia H., and Laura Sanguined W hite. “How to (And How N ot
To) Get Married in Sixteenth-Century Venice (Selections from the Diaries of
Marin Sanudo,” Rennaissance $>yarterly LII (1999), pp. 43-72.
L am bert 1987
Lambert, Susan. The Image Multiplied; Five Centuries o f Printed Reproductions o f
P ainting andDrawings. London: Trefoil, 1987.
222
Lam o 1584
Lamo, Alessandro. Discorso intomo alia scultura, et pittura fatte da Bernardino
Campo. Cremona: Christoforo Draconi, 1584.
Lam o 1844
Lamo, Pietro. Graticola d i Bologna, ossia, Descrizione delle pitture, sculture e
architetture di detta cittafatta Fanno 1560 delpittore Pietro Lamo: ora per la prima
volta data in luce con note illustrative. Bologna: Guidi all’Ancora, 1844.
L andau/ ParshaU 1994
Landau, David and Peter Parshall. The Renaissance Print 1570-15$0. New
Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994.
L a n z il7 8 9
Lanzi, Luigi. La storia pittorica della Italia inferiore, 0 sia delle scuole fiorentina,
senese, romana, napolitana, compendiate e ridotta a metodoper agevolare a’dilettanti la
cogmzione de’professori e de’ loro stili. Florence, Stamperia di Antonio Giusepe
Pagani, 1792.
L ee 1951
Lee, Rensselear. Review of Studies in Seicento A rt and Theory by Denis Mahon,
A rt Bulletin XXXIII (1951), p p . 203-12.
L evy 1984
Levy, Evonne. “Ideal and Reality of the Learned Artist: The Schooling of
Italian and Netherlandish Artists.” In Providence 1984 (the full reference is
given among the exhibition catalogues listed below), pp. 20-27.
L ightbow n 1978
Lightbown, Ronald W . Sandro Botticelli. 2 vols. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1978.
L o d g e1 6 7 9
Lodge. William. The Painter’s Voyage o f Italy. London: Thomas Flesher, 1679.
L ogan 1981
Logan, Ann Marie. Review of Washington 1979, Arte Lombardia LVTII-LIX
(1981), pp. 113-14.
L oisel- Legrand 1995
Loisel-Legrand, Catherine. “Dessins de Jeunesse des Carracci: Ludovico,
Annibale ou Agostino?,” Paragpne XCVI (1995), pp. 3-20.
L oisel-L egrand 1997
Loisel-Legrand, Catherine. “La Collection de dessins italiens du Pierre
Mignard” in Pierre Pierre Mignard “le Romain”: actes du coUoque orgamsi au musee
du Louvre par le Service culturel, le 29 Septembre 1995 (Louvre conferences et
colloques). Edited byJean-Claude Boyer. Paris: Documentation ffanfaise, 1997.
L ondon 1 8 1 4
A catalogue o f the Rich and Extensive Collection o f Original D rawing by the Great
Masters o f A ll the Italian Schools, Particularly the Italian,from the Time ofCimabue,
in the Thirteenth Century, to the Present Time..Formed...by Willtam Toung
Ottley ...Which W ill Be Soul By Auction Under the Direction o fM r. T. Philipe...On
Monday, June 6,1814, andtheFifteenFoUowingDays, Sundays Excepted.... London:
G. Hayden, 1814.
M ahon 1937
Mahon, Denis. “Notes on the Young Guercino. i.—Cento and Bologna,”
Burlington Magazine, CDVIII (1937), pp. 112-22.
M ahon 1947
Mahon, Denis. Studies in Seicento A rt and Theory GStudies o f the Warburg Institute
XVI). London: University o f London, 1947.
M ahon 195 3 a
Mahon, Denis. “Art Theory and Artistic Practice in the Early Seicento: Some
Clarification,” A rt Bulletin XXXV (1953), pp. 227-32.
M ahon 1953b
Mahon, Denis. “Eclecticism and the Carracci: Further Reflections on the
Validity o f a L a b Journal o f the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes XXVI (1953),
pp. 303-41.
M ahon 1957
Mahon, Denis. “Afterthoughts on the Carracci Exhibtion,” Gazette des Beaux-
A rts CXL and CXLI (1957), pp. 193-207 and 267-98, respectively.
M ahon 1986
Mahon, Denis. “Malvasia as a Source for Sources,” Burlington Magazine
CXXVIII (1986), pp. 790-95.
M alaguzzi V aleri 1899

Malaguzzi Valeri, Francesco. L ’architettura a Bologna nel Rinascimento. Rocca S.
Casciano: L. Cappelli, 1899.
Malaguzzi Valeri, Francesco. “L’arte dei pittori a Bologna,” Archivio Storico
delVArte (1897), pp. 309-14.
Malaguzzi Valeri, Francesco. “La giovinezza di Lodovico Carracci,” Cronache
(TArte I (1924), pp. 15-45.
M alaspina 1869
Malaspina, Carlo. Nuova Guida di Parma. 3rd. ed. Parma, 1869.
M alvasia 1 6 7 8
Malvasia, Carlo Cesare. Felsina pittrice; vite de pittori bolognesi alia maesta
cbristianissima diLvigi XUH..xonsagrata dal co. Carlo Cesare Malvasia. con indici in
fine copiosissimi.... 2 vols. Bologna:D. Barbieri, 1678.
M alvasia 1961
Malvasia, Carlo Cesare. Vite de pittori bologpesi; appunti inediti. Edited by
Adriana Afelli. Bologna: Commissione per i testi di lingua, 1961.
M alvasia 19 8 3
Malvasia, Carlo Cesare. Scritti originals' del Conte Carlo Cesare Malvasia spettanti
alia stia Felsina pittrice. Edited by Lea Marzocchi with preface by Luciano
Anceschi. Bologna: ALFA, 1983.
M alvasia ed. 1841
Malvasia, Carlo Cesare. Felsina pittrice: vite de pittori bolognesi con aggiunte,
224
correzioni e note inedite dell autore, di Giampietro Zanotti e d i altri scrittori. Edited
by Giampietro Zanotti. 2 Vols. 2. Bologna: Guidi all Ancora, 1841.
M an cin i 19 5 6-57
Mancini, Giulio. Considerazioni sulla Pittura, eds. Adriana Marucchi and Luigi
Salerno. Edited by Adriana Marucchi and Luigi Salerno. Rome: Accademia
nazionale dei Lincei, 1956-57.
M arabottini 1979
Marabottini, Alessandro, ed. Le A rti di Bologia d i Annibale Carracci, 2nd. ed.
Rome: Edizioni dell’elefante, 1979.
M a riette 1851*60
Mariette, Pierre Jean. Abecedario de P. J. M ariette et autres notes inedites de cet
amateur sur les arts et les artists. Ouvrage publie (Fapres les manuscrits autogaphes
conserves au cabinet des estampes de la Bibliotheque impiriale, et armotepar mm. Ph. de
Chemtevieres et A . de Montaiglon (Archives de Fartfrangais). Edited by Philippe
de Chennevieres and Anatole de Montaiglon, 6 vols. Paris: J. B. Dumoulin,
1851/53-1859/60.
M ariette 1969
Mariette, Pierre Jean. Les Grands peintres Notices biogaphiques et catalogues des
oeuvres reproduites par la gravure, XVIe-XVIIe siecle [par] P.-jf. Mariette. Preface
by Daniel Wildenstein and biographical articles on Mariette by Roger-
Armand Weigert and Gerald Buraon. Paris: Les Beaux-Arts, Edition d’etudes
et de documents, 1969.
M asin i 1650
Masini, Antonio di Paolo. Bolognaperlustrata: in cui sifa mentione ognigfomo in
perpetuo dellefontionisacre, eprofane ai tutto Fanrto. Delle chiese e lorofeste.D e’santi,
e a altri Bolognesi morti in opinione di santita.D e’pontefici, cardinali, patriarchi...De’
pittori, scultori, if architetti..D i molt’altre cose memorabili, e neccessarie da sapersi
dalla citta di Bologna...Il tutto sotto indici copiosissimi, be uno de’cognomi bolognesi, e
forestieri, che si nominano nelFopera dAntonio di Paolo Masini. Bologna: Carlo
Zenero, 1650.
M cC uaig 1989
McCuaig, William. Carlo Sigonio: The Changing W orld o f the Late Renaisssance.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.
M esserer 1972
Messerer, Wilhelm. “Die ‘Modi’ im W erk von Poussin.” In Festschrift
Luitpold Dussler: 28 Studien zur Archaologie und Kunstgeschichte, pp. 335-56.
Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1972.
M ezzetti 1977
Mezzetti, Amalia. Girolamo da Ferrara detto da Carpi: Vopera. Milan: Silvana,
1977.
M ilan 1991
Emilia Romagna. Guida d'ltalia. Edited by Anna Ferrari-Bravo. Milan: Touring
Club Italiano, 1991.
225
M irim onde 1972

Mirimonde, Albert P. de. “Pousin et la musique,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts
LXXIX (1972), p p . 129-50.
M ofiBtt 1988
Moffitt, John F. “Painters ‘Bom Under Saturn’: The Physiological
Explanation,” A rt History XI (1988), pp. 195-216.
M on tias 1982
Montias, John Michael. A rtists and Artisans in Delft: A Socio-Economic Study o f
the Seventeenth Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.
M orselH 1989
Morselli, Raffaella. Collezioni e quadrerie nella Bologna del Seicento: inventari
16A0-IJ07 (Documents For The History O f Collecting Italian Inventories III).
Edited by Anna Cera Sones. Los Angeles : G etty Information Institute, 1998.
M ortim er 1974
Mortimer, Ruth. H arvard College Library Department o f Printing and Graphic
A rts Catabgue o f Books and Manuscripts. Part. II: Italian 16th-Century Books.
Cambridge, MA; Harvard University Press, 1974.
M o sin i 1646
Mosini, Giovanni Atanasio (pseud, for Giovanni Antonio Massini). DIVERSE
FIGURE A l numero di ottanta, Disegnate di penna nelFbore di ricreatione DA
ANNIBALE CARRACCI INTAGLIATE IN RAME, E cauate dagji Originali DA
SIMONE GVILINO PARIGINO. DEDICATE A T V T T IIV IR TV O SI, E t Intendenti della
Professione della Pittura, e del Disegno. Rome: Ludovico Grignani, 1646.
M u s s il9 8 2
Mussi, Andrea. II Correggio e la congregazione cassinese. Florence: s.n. 1982.
N e ilso n 1980
Neilson. Nancy W ard. Review of Washington 1979. Master Drawings XVII
(1980), pp. 51-52.
O riandi 1704
Orlandi, Pellegrino Antonio. L ’abecedariopittorico: dal autore ristampato corretto
et accresciuto at moltiprofessori e di altre notizie spettanti alia pittura.... Bologna:
Costantino Pisarri, 1704.
O strow I9 6 0
Ostrow, Steven. “N ote sugli affreschi con ‘Storie di Giasone’ in Palazzo Fava,”
A rte Antica Modema IX (i960), pp. 68-75
O strow 1966
Ostrow, Stephen. “Agostino Carracci.” Ph.D. diss., New York University,
1966.
O tta n il9 6 6
Ottani, Anna. Gli’affresci dei Carracci in palazzo Fava. Bologna: Casa Editrice,
1966.
O td ey 1823
Ottley, William Young. The Italian school o f design: being a series o f fac-similes o f
original drawing?, by the most eminent painters and sculptors o f Italy; w ith
22 6
biographical notices o f the artists and observations on their works. London: Taylor
ana Hessey, 1823.
O vid 1522
Ovid. D i Ovidio Le metamorphosi, doe, Trasmutationi: tradotte dal latino
diligentemente in volgar verso, con le sue allegprie, significatione S’dichiaratione delle
faboleinprosa. Venice: Zoppino 1522.
P anini 19 8 7
Panini, Francesco. Cronica della Citta di Modena. Edited by Rolando Bussi and
Roberto Montagnani. Modena: Panini, 1987.
P anofsky 1968
Panofsky, Erwin. Idea: A Concept in A rt Theory. Translated by Joseph J. S.
Peake. Columbia: South Carolina Press, 1968.
P a o le td 1980/81
Paoletti, John T. Review of Washington 1979, Visual Resources I (1980/81), pp.
232-35.
P arker 1 9 5 6
Parker, Karl Theodore. Catalogue o f the collection o f Drawings in the Ashmolean
Museum, vol. 2, Italian Schools. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.
P asero 19 3 5
Pasero Carlo. “Giacomo Franco, editore, incisore e calcografo nei secoli XVI
e X V II, ”La Bibliofilia XXXVIII (1935), pp. 332-45.
P a sq o a lil6 2 1
Pasquali, Giovanni N. INSTVTTIONE DELLE COSE NOTABILI DELL c i t t a d i
BOLOGNA, S ’ altre particolari; Con tutte le memorie Antiche, che f i ritouano nella
Citta, e Contd, Etalcune altre cofe curiofe. Bologna: Nicolo Tebaldini, 1621
P attan aro 2 0 0 0
Pattanaro, Alessandra. Girolamo da Carpi-, ritratti. Cittadella (Padua):
Bertoncello artigrafiche, 2000.
P epper 1 9 8 4
Pepper, D. Stephen. Review of Annibale Carracci and the Beginnings o f the
Baroque Style, by Charles Dempsey. In A rt Bulletin LXVI (1984), pp. 531-33.
P epper 19 8 6
Pepper, D. Stephen. “Bolognese Painting in the Seventeenth Century.” In
W ashington 1986 (the full reference is given among the exhibition catalogues
listed below), pp. 325-40.
P epper 19 8 6
Pepper, D. Stephen. “Ludovico Carracci: A New Sequence of His W orks,”
Accademia Clementina: a tti e memorie XXXIII-XXXIV (1994), pp. 49-67.
P ep p er2 0 0 0
Pepper, D. Stephen. Print §>yarterly XVIII (2000), pp. 67-72.
P e r in il9 8 8
Perini, Giovanna. “Carlo Cesare Malvasia’s Florentine Letters: Insights into
227
Conflicting Trends in Seventeenth-Century Italian Art Historiography,” A rt
Bulletin LXX (1988), pp. 273-99.
P erin i 1 9 8 9
Perini, Giovanna. “L’arte di descrivere: La tecnica dell’ecfrasi in Malvasia e
Bellori,” I T atti Studies, Essays in the Renaissance III (1989), pp. 175-206.
P erin i 1 9 9 0
Perini, Giovanna, ed. Scritti G li scritti dei Carracci. Introduction by Charles
Dempsey. Bologna: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1990.
P erin i 19 9 1
Perini, Giovanna. MLa piu Bella antichitd che sappiate desiderareHistory and
Style in Giovan Pietro Bellori’s ‘Lives’,” Kunst und Kunsttheorie 1400-1900,
WolfenbuttelerForschungen XLVIII (1991), pp. 145-73.
P ietran ton io F ortunati 1986
Pietrantonio Fortunati, Vera. “Prospero Fontana.” In Pittura bolognese del’yoo.
Vol. 1. pp. 339-49. Bologna: Grafts Edizioni, 1986.
P osn er 1966
Posner, Donald. “An Unpublished Drawing by Annibale Carracci for the
palazzo Fava Frescoes,” Master Drawings IV (1966), pp. 29-31.
P osn er 1971
Posner, Donald. Annibale Carracci: A Study in the Reform o f Italian Painting
Around 1990.2 Vols. London and New Haven: Phaidon Press, 1971.
P osn er 1982
Posner, Donald. “Marginal Notes by Annibale Carracci,” Burlington Magazine
CXXIV (1982), p. 239.
P rev ita li 1964

Previtali, Giovanni. La Jbrtuna dei prim itivi dal Vasari ed neoclassicci. Turin:
Einaudi, 1964.
Q m ntavalle 1939
Quintavalle, Armando Ottaviano. La Regia Galleria di Parma (Le Guide dei
musei italiani). Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1939.
R a zzetti 1961
Razzetti, Fausto. “Parma in un antico libro di viaggi inglese,” Aurea Parma
XLI (1961), p . 38.
R a zzetti 1961
Razzetti, Fausto. “Alberghi di Parma nel seicento,” Aurea Parma XLV (1961),
pp. 206-207.
R eid 1 9 9 3
Reid, Jane Davidson. The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the A rts, 1300-
1990s, vol. i. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
R id olfi 1642
Ridolft, Carlo. Vita d i Giacopo Robvsti detto il Tintoretto, celebrepittore, cittadino
venetiano. Fedelmente descritta da Carlo Ridolfi. Venice: G. Oddoni, 1642.
228
R icci 1913
Ricci, Corrado. “II primo disegno di Domenico Tibaldi per la porta del
Palazzo Pubblico di Bologna,” Bolletino (TArte VII (1913), pp. 282-286.
R ob ertson 1993
Robertson, Clare. “I Carracci e l’invenzione: osservazioni sulTorigine dei cicli
affrescati di Palazzo Fava,” Accademia Clementina. A tti e Memorie XXXII (1993),
pp. 271-314.
R o u ch es1913
Rouches, Gabriel. La peinture bolonaise a la fin du XVIeme sikle. (1575-1619) les
Carraches. Paris: Librairie F. Alcan, 1913.
R o v e r sil9 8 6
Roversi, Giancarlo. Palazzi e case nobili del'$00 a Bologna: la storia, lefamiglie, le
opere (farte. Bologna: Grafis.
R ubin 1984
Rubin, Laurie. “First Draft Artistry: Childrens’ Drawings in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries.” In Providence 1984 (the full reference is given among
the exhibition catalogues listed below), pp. 10-19.
R uta 1739
Ruta, Clemente. Guida, ed esatta notizia a’jbrastieri delle piu eccellenti pitture che
sono in molte chiese dells citta di Parma. Parma: Gozzi, 1739.
San serverin i 1778
Sanserverini, Alessandro. II Parmigiano istruito nelle notizie della suapatria sparse
nelpresente almanacco istorico-cronolagko. Vol. 1. Parma: Giuseppe Braglia, 1778.
S a rd i1993
Sardi, Gian Pietro. La citta di Parma: delineata, e divisa in isole colla descrizione
degli attualipossessors di tutte le case, chiese, monasteri <brc. dei carmali, cavi, canadelle,
condotti, co/i e fontane, che v i scorrono sottera: ricavata dal piano originate della
medesima esegutta, e compilata in quest’anno MDCCLXVII Gian Pietro Sardi. Parma:
PPS, 1993.
Scannelli 1657
Scannelli, Francesco. II microcosmo della pittura ouero trattato diuiso in due libri.
Nelprimo spettante alia theorica si discorre delle orandezze d'essapittura...N el Secondo,
che in ordine alprimo dimostra la pratica...D i Francesco Scannelli da Forlt. Cesena:
Neri, 1657.
S ch leier 1994
Schleier, Erich. Review of Ludovico Carracci, Burlington Magazine CXXXVI
(1994), pp. 261-64.
Schnckm ann 1949-
Schuckmann, Gunther. Hollstein’s Dutch 6" Flemish Etching?, Engravings and
Woodcuts 1450-1700 (.Maarten de Vos), vol. 44 (text). Amsterdam, M.
Hertzberger, 1949-.
S coto 1610
Scoto, Andrea. Itinerario overo nova descrittione de' viaggiprincipal/ dItalia: nella
quale si hapiena notitia d i tutte le cosepiu notabili, & degpe aessere vedute di Andrea
229
Scoto. -Novamente trad, dal latino in lingua ital., & accresciuto di molte cose, che nel
latino non si contengpno. Venetia: Bolzetta, 1610.
S e ffin k l9 9 9
Sellink, Manfred. Comelis Cort {The New Hollstei: Dutch & Flemish Etchings,
Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-iyoo). 3 vols. Edited by Huigen Leeflang.
Rotterdam: Sound & Vision PudL, 1999.
Serafim 1915
Serafini, Alberto. Girolamo da Carpi, pittore e architetto ferrarese ( i $ o i - i $ $ 6 ) con
19$ illustrazioni. Rome: Tip. delTUnione editrice, 1915.
S ig h m o Ifil9 1 2
Sighinolfi, Lino. Ipalazzi Fava di via Manzoni. Bologna: Paolo Neri, 1912.
S orb elli 1921-22
Sorbelli, Anna “Carlo Sigonio e la Societa tipografia bolognese,” La bibliografta
XXIII (1921-22), p p . 95-105.
Spalding 1983
Spalding, Jack. “Santi di Tito and the Reform of Florentine Mannerism,”
Storia aelFArte XLVII (1983), pp. 41-52.
S p ear 1982
Spear, Richard E. Domenichino. 2 vols. New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1982.
Spezzaferro 1984
Luigi Spezzaferro, “I Carracci e i Fave: alcune ipostesi” in Bologna 1984, pp.
275-91.
S p ik e 1979
Spike, John. Review of Washington 1979, Burlington Magazine CXXI (1979),
pp. 526-27.
Sum m erscale 2000
Summerscale, Anne. M alvasia’s IJ fe o fthe Carracci: Commentary and Translation.
University Park, PA.: The Pennsylvania University Press, 2000.
S utherlan d H arris 1994
Sutherland Harris, Ann. “Ludovico, Agostino, Annibale: ‘...l’abbiam fatta tutti
n o i Accademia Clementina: A tti e memorie XXX-XXXIV (1994), pp. 69-84.
Sutherland H arris 1999
Sutherland Harris, Ann. “Artemisia Gentileschi: The Literate Illiterate or
Learning from Example.” In Docere, Delectare, Movere. A ffetti, devozione e
retorica nel linguaggo artistico del primo barocco romano. (A tti del convegw
organizzato daulstituto Olandese a Foma e dalla Bibliotheca Hertziana [Max-
Planck-Institut] in collaborazione con ITJniversita Cattolica di Nijmegen, Roma), pp.
105-120. Rome: Edizioni De Luca, 1999.
Sutherland H arris 2000
Sutherland Harris, Ann. “Agostino Carracci’s Inventions: Pen-And-Ink
Studies, 1582-1602,” Master Drawings XXXVIII (2000), pp. 393-423.
230
T h orn ton 1991
Thornton, Peter. The Italian Renaissance interior, 1400-1600. London:
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1991.
T ietze 1 9 0 6 /1 9 0 7
Tietze, Hans. “Annibale Carraccis Galarie im Palazzo Famese und seine
romische W erkstatte,” Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des
allerhochstenKaiserhauses XXVI (1906/1907), pp. 49-182.
T irab osch i 1786
Tiraboschi, Girolamo. Notizie de’p ittori, scultori, incisori, e architetti natii degli
stati del serenissimo signor duca di Modena: con una appendice de’professori di mustca
raccolte e ordinate dal cavaliere ab. Girolamo Tiraboschi. Modena: Societa
tipografica, 1786.
T oscano 1 9 9 8
Toscano, Bruno. “Federigo Zuccaro a Firenze: un punto di vista,” Paragone
XLXIX (1998), pp. 9-45.
T om asini 1 6 4 4
Tomasini, Giacomo Filippo. Elogia Virorum Literis et Sapientia Illustrium, ad
vivum expressis imaginibus exomata. Padua: Sebastiani Sardi, 1644.
T urner 1995
Turner, Nicholas. “Two Unpublished Drawings by Annibale Carracci in the
British Museum,” Burlington Magazine CXXXVII (1995), pp. 609-11.
U gin et 19 8 0
Uginet, Frangois Charles. Le Palais Famese, vol. 3, part 1, Le Palais Famese a
travers les documentsfinanciers (1333-1612). Rome: L’Ecole, 1980.
V a r c h il5 6 4
Varchi, Benedetto. Orazione funerale fa tta e recitata da ltd publicamente nelle
eseqnie di Michelangelo Buonarroti in Firenze nella Chiesa di S. Lorenzo. Florence:
Giunti, 1564.
V asari 1 5 6 8
Vasari, Giorgio. Le vite de’pittori, scultori e architetti modemi. Florence: Giunti,
1568.
V igo 1985
Vigo, Giovanni. “Cremona nel Cinquecento.” In Cremona 1985 (the full
reference is given among the exhibition catalogues listed below), pp. 13-18.
V itale 2001
Vitale, Samuel. “A new document for the Carracci and Ruggero Bascape at
the Palazzo Magnani in Bologna,” Burlington Magazine CXLIII (2001), pp. 604-
613.
V oss 1956
Voss, Hermann. “Die Mostra dei Carracci Bologna 1956,” Kunstcbronik XI
( 1 9 5 6 ), p p . 3 1 7 -3 2 3 -
'W ackem agel 1981

Wackemagel, Martin. The World o fthe Florentine Renaissance A rtist. Translated
by A. Luchs. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.
W ard J a ck so n 1980
W ard Jackson, Peter. Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogues: Italian Drawing,
II: r f -18th Century. London: H er Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1980.
W aterhouse 1971
Waterhouse, Ellis. Italian Baroque Painting. London: Phaidon Press, 1962.
W egner 1987
Wegner, Susan E., “Prints and the Reform of Painting in Siena,” Print
Quarterly IV (1987), pp. 118-137.
W ethey 1969-75
Wethey, Harold Edwin. The P ainting o f Titian. Complete edition by Harold E.
Wethey. London and New York: Phaidon, 1969-1975.
W ittkow er 1963
W ittkower, Margot and Rudolf. Bom Under Saturn. The Character and Conduct
o f Artists: a Documented History from Antiquity to the French Revolution. New
York: Random House, 1963.
W ittkow er 19 6 4
W ittkower, Margot and Rudolf. The Divine Michelangelo: The Florentine
Academy’s Homage on H is Death in 1564. London: Phaidon, 1964.
W ood 1991
W ood, Carolyn H. “Agucchi, Lodovico Carracci and the Monument to
Cardinal Sega at Piacenza,” Burlington Magazine CXXXIII (1991), pp. 429-33.
Z a n o ttil 756
Zanotti, Giampietro. Le pitture d i Pellegrino Tibaldi e di Niccolo Abbati esistenti
nell’ Instituto di Bologna, descritte et illustrate da Giampietro Zanotti. Venice:
Licenza de’ Superiori, 1756.
Z a p p eril9 8 6
Zapperi, Roberto. “The Summons of the Carracci to Rome: Some New
Documentary Evidence,” Burlington Magazine CXXVIII (1986), pp. 203-5.
Zapperi 1989
Zapperi, Roberto. Annibale Carracci. Ritratto di artista da giovane. Turin:
Einaudi, 1989.
Zapperi 1 9 9 4
Zapperi, Roberto. Eros e Controriforma. Preistoria della galleria Famese.
Bologna: Bollati Boringhieri, 1994.
Z u cc a r il6 0 7
Zuccari, Federico. L ’idea de’p ittori, scultori ed architetti del cavalier Federigp
Zuccaro. Turin: Agostino Disserolio, 1607.
Ex h ib it io n C a ta lo g u es
B ologna 1956a
Mostra dei Carracci: catalog critico. Edited by Gian Carlo Cavalli et aL with a
note by Denis Mahon and an introductory essay by Cesare Gnudi. Bologna,
Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio. Bologna: Alfa, 1956.
232
B o lo g n a l9 5 6 b
Mostra dei Carracci; Disegni. Ist edition. Edited by Denis Mahon and
translated by Maurizio Calvesi. Bologna, Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio.
Bologna: Alfa, 1956.
B ologna 1983
LEstasi di Santa Cecilia di Raffaello da Urbino nella Pinacoteca Nazionale di
Bologna. Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale. Bologna: Alfa, 1983.
B ologna 1984
Bologna 1584: gli esordi dei Carracci e gli qffreschi di Palazzo Fava. Introductory
essay by Andrea Emiliani and entries by Luigi Spezzaforro et al. Bologna,
Pinacoteca Nazionale. Bologna: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1984.
B ologna 1985
Tre artisti nella Bologna dei Bentivoglio. Edited by Franca Varignana. Bologna,
Pinacoteca Nazionale. Bologna: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1985.
B ologna 1988
Dallavanguardia dei Carracci al secolo barocco. Edited by Andrea Emiliani with
writings by Grazia Agostino et al. Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico.
Bologna: Nuova Alfa, 1988.
B ologna 1998
Figure: disegni dal Cinquecento aWOttocento nella Pinacoteca nazionale di Bologna.
Catalogue by Marzia Faietti and Alessandro Zacchi. Bologna, Pinacoteca
Nazionale. Milano: Electa, 1998.
B ologna/F ort W orth 1993

Ludovico Carracci. Edited by Andrea Emiliani et aL Bologna, Museo Civico
Archeologico and Pinacoteca Nazionale—Fort W orth, Kimbell Art Museum.
Bologna: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1993.
B ologna/W ashsngton/N cw Y ork 1986
The Age o f Correggio and the Carracci: Emilian Painting o f the Sixteenth and the
Seventeenth Centuries. Catalogue translated by Robert Erich W olf et al
Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale—Washington, D.C., National Gallery of
Art—New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 1986.
B oston/C leveland/W ashington 1989
Italian Etchers o f the Renaissance fa Baroque. Catalogue by Sue W elsh Reed and
Richard Wallace with contributions by David Acton et aL Boston, Museum
of Fine Arts—Cleveland, Cleveland Museum o f Art—Washington, D.C.,
National Gallery o f Art. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1989.
C am bridge, M A. 1992
A Noble Collection: The Spencer Albums o f Old Master Prints. Catalogue by
Marjorie B. Cohn. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University A rt Museums.
Cambridge, MA.: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, 1992.
C rem ona 1985
I Campi e la cultura artistica cremonese del Cinquecento. Edited by Mina Gregori.
Cremona, Santa Maria della Pieta, Vecchio Ospedale, Museo Civico and Sala
Malafredini. Milan: Electa, 1985.
233
E dinburgh 1972
Italian i f 3 Century D raw ing from British Private Collections. Edinburgh,
Merchant’s Hall. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Festival Ltd., 1972.
F loren ce 1963a
Mostra documentaria e iconografica dellAccademia delle arti del disegno. Florence,
Archivio di Stato. Florence: n.p., 1963.
F loren ce 1963b
Disegni della Fondazione Home in Firenze. Catalogue by Licia Ragghianti
Colfobi. Florence, Palazzo Strozzi. Florence: La Strozzina, 1963.
F loren ce 1964
Mostra di disegni del Vasari e della sue cerchia. Edited by Paolo Barocchi.
Florence, Gabinetto dei disegni e stampi degli Uffizi. Florence: Olschki,
1964.
F loren ce 1965
Mostra di stampe popolari venete del $00. Catalogue edited by Anna Omodeo.
Florence, Gabinetto disegni e stampe degli Uffizi. Florence: Olschki, 1965.
L ondon 1937
Exhibition o fDrawings o fthe Bolognese School. Catalogue by Walter Gemsheim.
London: W. Gemsheim, 1937.
L ondon 1982
Discoveriesfrom the Cinquecento. Catalogue by Clovis Whitfield with forward
by Giuliano Briganti. Colnaghi, London. London: Colnaghi and Co., 1982.
L ondon 1983
The Genius o f Venice, 1$00-1600. Edited by Jane Martineau and Charles Hope.
London, Royal Academy o f Arts. London: Royal Academy of Arts with
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983.
L ondon 1992
Drawing in Bologna, 1$00-1600. Catalogue by Elizabeth Llwellen and Cristiana
Romalli. London, Coutauld Institute Galleries. London: Sotheby’s, 1992.
L ondon 1 9 9 7
Discovering the Italian Baroque: The Denis Mahon Collection. Catalogue by
Gabriele Finaldi, Michael Kitson et aL London, National Gallery. London:
National Gallery Publications, 1997.
L on d on 2 0 0 1
The Print in Italy, 1550-1620. Catalogue by Michael Bury. London, British
Museum. London: British Museum, 2001.
M oscow 1989
Five Centuries o f European Drawings. The Former Collection o f Franz Koenigs.
Moscow, Pushkin Museum of State Museum of Fine Arts. Milan: Leonardo
Arte, 1989.
N ew Y ork/P aris 1987
Zurbaran. Catalogue by Jeannine Baticle w ith essays by Yves Bottineau,
Jonathan Brown, and Alfonso E. Perez Sanchez. New York, Metropolitan
234
Museum of Art—Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. New York:
Harry N. Abrams, 1987.
O ttaw a 1982
Bolomese Drawing in North America. Catalogue by Mimi Cazort and
Catherine Johnston. Ottawa, National Gallery o f Art. Ottawa: National
Museums of Canada, 1982.
P aris 1994
Le dessin a Bologne, 1580-1620. La rrforme des trois Carracci. Catalogue by
Catherine Loisel Legrand with Varena Forcione. Paris, Musee du Louvre.
Paris: Reunion des musees nationaux, 1994.
P hiladelph ia 1988
Pietro Testa, 1612-1650: Prints and Drawings. Catalogue by Elizabeth Cropper
with essays by Charles Dempsey et al. Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of
A rt—Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Art Museums. Philadelphia:
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1988.
P rovid en ce 1984
Children o f Mercury. The Education of A rtists in the Sixteen and Seventeenth
Centuries. Providence, R.I., Bell Gallery, List A rt Center, Brown University.
Providence, R.I.: Departm ent of Art, Brown University, 1984.
R egina/M ontreal 1970
A Selection o f Italian Drawings prom North American Collections. Catalogue by
W alter Vitzthum. Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina; and Montreal
Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal. Regina: n.p., 1970.
R om e 19 7 6
Im m agni da Tiziano: stampe dal sec. XVI a l sec. XIX. Catalogue edited by Maria
Catem Isola. Gabinetto nazionale delle stampe, Rome. Rome: De Luca,
1976.
W ash in gton 1979
Prints and Related Drawings by the Carracci Family. A Catalogue Raisonne.
Catalogue by Diane DeGrazia Bohlin. Washington, D.C., National Gallery
o f Art. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1979. (Revised
and expanded Italian edition: Le stampi dei Carracci con i disegni, le incisione, le
copie i dipinti connessi. Catalogs critico. Translated and edited by Antonio
Boschetto. Bologna, Palazzo Pepoli-Campogrande. Bologna: Edizioni Alfa,
1984).
W ash in gton 1984
Correggio and H is Legacy: Sixteenth-Century Emilian Drawings. Catalogue by
Diane DeGrazia. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. W ashington
D.C.: National Gallery o f Art, 1984.
W ash in gton 1999
The D raw ing o f Annibale Carracci. Catalogue by Daniele Benati et. a l
National Gallery o f Art, Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.: National
Gallery of Art, 1999.
235
M a n u s c r ip t s
B ologna, A rchivio A rcivescovile
MS Libri battesimali [baptismal record of Gian Maria Carracci]
B ologna, A rchivio d i Stato
MS 1679-1709, Prot. 1685-1686
MS Archivio notarile, Notaio Pietro Antonio Stancari, 6.5.6, [marriage certificate

dated Nov. 14,1544 o f Vincenzo Carracci and Francesca Grimaldi]
MS Cartari, <.2.2 [marriage certificate dated February 19, 1552 of Antonio

Carracci and Isabella di Gaspare Zenzanini]
MS Commune, Capitano del Popolo, Liber Matricularum IV (1410-1796)

[enrollment of Ludovico and Gian Maria Carracci in the A rti dei Beccai]
MS Fondo notarile, Rogiti di Roberto Accursi, 1636-1640
MS Legato, Expeditiones
MS Notarile-Notaio Marco Carracci, Protocollo B 1655-1659
MS Senato, Libripartitorum
B ologna, B ibU oteca Com unale d ell’A rchiginnasio
MS 16 and MS 17 [C. C. Malvasia: “Scritti origjnale del Conte Carlo Cesare

Malvasia spettanti alia sua Felsina Pittrice”].
MS 48 [“Documenti origtnalF]
MS 4224 [G. Vasari: Vite, vol. 3, with annotations by the Carracci]
MS B. 104 [Marcello Oretti, “Le Pitture che si ammirano nelipalaggi e case de’nobili
cittd di Bologna”, ca. 1760-80]
B ologna, B ibK otecaU niversario
MS 751 [G. B. Agucchi: “Vita HieronymiAgucchi"\
London, B ritish Library
MS Harley 3463 [G. B. Agucchi: Letter to Canon Bartolomeo Dolcini {Dulcini}

dated April 23,1603]
M ilan, B ib lioteca A m brosiana
MS Cod. S. 147 sup. Ferrari [Carlo Carazzi [Carracci], “Carlo Carracci detto il
Cremona sopra la volta d i S. Petronio diBologpa letta in Reggim ento-.iffi”]
236
P aris, B ibliotheque N ationale
MS Pierre Jean Mariette [“Notes manuscrites sur lespeintres et les graveurs”, 1740-
1770]
R eggio E m ilia, A rchivio d i S tato
MS Communale varia, Congregaziom di SanRocco
F ig u r e s
238
1. Anonymous engraving, Impresa of the Carracci Academy, from

Carlo Cesare Malvasia’s Felsina pittrice, Bologna, 1678, voL 1, p. 321
(photo: C. 4201)
It e L O U S \ M A C - G 'n J . S t i c v ? ka n* i
VE R $0 DO'SB VCFDE
* *. * aifl-i.
FARTXVERSO
ILfCLO
v * *
j/*
ra t--
'7S •
'T \
*? ■ ■**i
*« *
jttfettS "VERSO EOVE
■a. o _____ .
■'. , ! a i ' r. if ____
2. Anonymous woodcut, £>e L ’Orsa Maggiore, from

Alessandro Piccolomini’s De le stelle fisse..., Venice,
1595) %• 2 (photo: Harvard University Library)
•
DEL S TfTfA N O 'PITTOH.E . ' V
M « b tri Jtutrfr tt a J tm Ttacrt, E g iu n tiJu ro aljbm m e do eh h sn o rt.

Ganpnuattda ntfitto a Ttmjti noftri, E onuti'fra net ctltjh J G jb i.
H an Jim tjtra tndtjegni e bet tolori tta * l lT T A N . merte d a k a Uittmra,
Quants can la nature I' arte J i o flr i: Vines ha I ‘arte. Vingama. t le N ature .
3. Anonymous engraving, Titian’s Impresa from Battista Pittoni’s Imprese di dtversi

Prenctpi, Duct, stgnorie (Taltri..., Venice, 1562, n.p. (photo: C. 1937)
4- Ludovico Carracci, Impresa o f the Carracci Academy., ca. 1602/03,
pen and brown ink w ith brush and brown wash, 189 x 162 mm.,
Avignon, M usee Calvet (photo: Disegni 1998)
242
wm
V w ’i L * . T ~ - * \
r, , f i
($ J Z - £> '& ? : /
■v
^
#:
u*.-y«- i
f* « jK \
A
Id
Co p ^
:/" o: < W :
( D W z tfc del S Qrcnccpc V

I i non Qn&iichtraditrcaarjidomMi
alia congrcpdtimePa bor p e r
nccptq m fd r tm t - 3 s ccrt^
*
5. Francesco Brizio, Announcement o f a M eeting o f the Carracci Academy,

ca. 1600-1605, engraving (B.XVII.156.272, only state), 137 x 99 cm.
(photo: W ashington 1979)
243
6. D etail of fig. 5
7- Albrecht Durer, Astrobgical Chart o f the Northern Sky (detail), 1515,
woodcut (photo: www.scivis.com/AC/ stor/durerm ap.jpg)
245
M O D O DEL DIVIDE RE
L'ALLVV
DA OVELLO DIBARTDLO,
E GLI AGR1MENSORI
D IV E H D .
Mofbato con ragioai Marhcmaticfae
& con pratica.
DA CAR ID CARAZZ1
BOLOGNESE
D ETTD
IL C R E M O N A
Donde tramnoo tu n p iu ptdna >S i.Iejijh.
6 r colors, cht iefidtrtnt jtprr dnnimt
t e n i c o w i i w u m pmjhmtntt. mijurtr
Ccrnni prmder n A Jgn o on
jito<!rcaJtroacmc
cjfcrdtv
C on priutlcjjio JA Sontna Pont
I n B o l o g n a , P e r G io . Rom i m d l x x i j C .
r kqt^ _ it‘Japcnm. rg.. .vy
8. H ere attributed to Annibale Carracci, Frontispiece o f Carlo

Carracci’s Modo deldtvidere falluvioni..., Bologna, 1579 (photo: The
British Library)
9- Detail o f fig. 8
247
D E IIL E AL-LV.VIOtfr. i 79
D e l C a f o d i q u a ttr o r ip e . C a p . I X .
Ia 1*allaoJonc ABCDE diqaartro ripe,da diuiderfi
rri quicrro canfinanri,conJe frori regolate AB,BC,
.CD,>&DE,&fi ancoilparaJlelognunmovgualeai
terrenod'eflaail moncJiaifonclleqturrro poraoni
r\
V A l- "••'I v K'XY a
!< mOfb>^ / L
■ — --------
1K X L * F, G, H, I, fcconifo la pro"
porrtone del!e dene q tw
tro firbofiiSc olrraqu.iio
(ia fatto tl rettil’neo K.L
' M N O fimiic all'infrnrro
ABCDE,de vguairalledet
- teôarnoporrioni,ilquale
dnndafi ptima deH’aIluoione,4cddchepiu fiualmente fi poflafare
Udiuifionedell'aHmrione. Dop« prolunghifi il laro L M, fmche
coocorrandlaKO fimilealla*,ncipmno + (perchec inclinara
ad cfla linea K O ) oode ihaurail triangolo K L q,, nel quale, per il
primoCalbdeJ 8 Capo, ririfi k perpendieolare LP,&iIrriango!o
KIP fi caoa dalla portione F, & lo aoanzo fi riferui; poi del rrian-
golo LP 4-fia ihiintmo di ranra qoanriu, quanroi! auanzo rifcr*
uxto con ia iinea T V equidiihnteaJfi L P , per la i . Propofirionc
dd 7-Cao.de il nwdefmo fi fin dall'alm parte del renilmeo,cio^
fi prologara la MN nel pnto+. k neJ rmgoioNO-F fi tirara la per
pendicolareN Q ,fcilfriangoioQNOIic«ri dalla portione I, &
d rcilr di tal porn one fi riferuiTpoi fi fininnifca il triangolo N Q j.
7. a dcf
io . P ag e 179 fro m C arlo C a rra c c i’s M odo del dividere

fauuvton?..., Bologna, 1579 (p h o to : T h e B ritish
L ibrary)
ii. Ludovico Carracci, M ystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine, oil on
canvas, 63 x 51 cm., Bologna, Private Collection (photo: Bologna
1993)
249
12. Ludovico Carracci, Medea Rejuvenating the Lamb (detail), fresco,

Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sola dt Giasone) (photo: O ttani 1966)
13. Francesco Parmigianino, Mystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine, ca.
1525/26, oil on panel, 74.2 x 57.2 cm., London, National Gallery
(photo: Rossi 1980)
251
a^y'v:-
ra n
14. Francesco Parmigianino, Madonna o f the Rose, 1529/30, oil on panel, 109 x 88.5
cm., Dresden, Gemaldegalerie (photo: Museum)
15. Ludovico C arracci, Holy Family Beneath An Arch, ca. 1577, engraving (B X V I I I 4)
267 x 327 mm. (photo: Washington 1979) ’
252
i
253
16. D e ta il o f fig. 15
255
.4
i8. Ludovico Carracci, Study fo r SaintJoseph, ca. 1577, pen and brown
ink with brush and brown wash, 139 x 119 mm, Oxford,
Ashmolean M useum (photo: Museum)
20. Ludovico Carracci, Lamentation, ca. 1578/79, oil on canvas, 95.3 x 172.7 cm., New York, Metropolitan Museum of
Art (photo: Museum)
257
2i. D e ta il o f fig. 20
259
22. Parmigianino, Entombment, etching ( B .x v n i.3 0 0 .4 6 ) , 274 x 206 mm.

(photo: Landua/ParshaU 1994)
23. Andrea Del Sarto, Lamentation, ca. 1520, oil on panel, 99 x 120
cm., Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum (photo: Museum)
z6i
<
24. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, Study o f a Boy Lying on H is
Back, red chalk, 186 x 26 mm., location unknown (photo:
Christiansen 2000)
262
25. Ludovico Carracci, M ystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine w ith Saints

Joseph and Francis, and Angels, ca. 1579, oil on canvas, 158 x 139,
Goteborg, Goteborgs Konstmuseum, (Ekserdjian 1997)
26. Correggio, M ystic Marriage o f Saint Catherine w ith Saints John the
Baptist, Elizabeth, and Zacharias, ca. 1512, oil on panel, 135 x 123,
Detroit, In stitute of A rt (Ekserdjian 1997)
27- Ludovico Carracci, Baptism o f Christ, ca. 1580-83, oil on canvas,
M unich, Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen (photo: Bologna
1993)
2 6$
28. Ludovico Carracci, Marriage o f the Virgin, ca. 1580-83, oil on

'per, 41.2 x 32 cm., Private collection on loan to the N ational
leiy, London (photo: Bologna 1993)
29. Ludovico Carracci, Vision o f Saint Francis, ca. 1583/84, oil on
canvas, 103 x 102 cm., Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum (photo: Bologna
1993)
267
30. Ludovico Carracci, Incantation o f Medea, 1584, fresco, Bologna,

Palazzo Fava (photo: Bologna 1993)
268
V ' ‘
31. Ludovico Carracci, Study for the Vision o f Saint Francis, ca. 1583/84,
red chalk, 264 X 2 0 7 mm., London, British M useum (photo: Bohn
1984)
269
32. Annibale Carracci, Baptism o f Christ, 1585,

canvas, 383 x 225, Bologna, San Gregorio
M alafnna 1976)
270
33- Carracci W orkshop, Marriage o f the Virgin, ca. 1580-83, oil on

copper, 43 x 31.8 cm., private collection (photo: W hitfield
1982)
34- Correggio, N oli me tangere, early 1520s, oil on canvas transferred
from panel, 130 x 103 cm., M adrid, Museo del Prado (photo:
Ekserajian 1997)
35. Correggio, Assumption o f the Virgin, 1530, fresco, 1093 x 1155 cm.,
Parma, Cathedral (photo: Ekserdjian 1997)
273
36. Cesare A retusi after Correggio, Coronation o f the Virgin,

Correggio’s original com pletedca. 1522/23, fresco, Parma, San
Giovanni Evangelista (photo: Ekserdjian 1997)
37- Correggio, Madonna della Scodella, 1530, oil on panel, 218 x
137 cm., Parma, Galleria Nazionale (photo: Ekserdiian
1997 )
38. Correggio, Madonna o f Saint Jerome (II Gtomo), ca. 1527/28, oil on
panel, 205 x 141 cm., Parma, Galleria Nazionale (photo:
Ekserdjian 1997)
276
39- D etail o f fig. 38
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission
40. Annibale Carracci, Butcher’s Shop, ca. 1582/83, oil on canvas, 190 x 271 cm., Oxford, C hrist
Church (photo: Museum)
277
278
rk-'/ s 1t
' \ O M E N '1
f 0S1
ISF.NED1 ji
Cl''-, C T V M .^ f
]
DEDVCANTVr! ’ MVTAFIANT
PEOCATTOraSj ‘ * • LABIA
IN INFER
| DO 1, O S A .
ET L5'^sc\j^la ^
I /D E L SANTI5S.NOME
IN ISTOS
’(D I DIO IN CII1ESA HI.' APFRIHK
1PSENOTAT DAT V R .
V U ) E I .I I .lt.I 1.D I.SS.<>
K ss& eio-E r b \ q *-s ?5
41. Agostino Carracci (after?), Adoration ofthe M ost Holy Name o f God,
ca. 1587, engraving (not. in B., 2 o f two states), 367 x 258 mm.
(photo: Museum {Bologna, Galleria Nazionale})
42. Agostino Carracci, Adoration o f the Most Holy Name o f God,
ca. 1587, pen and brown ink with brush ana brown wash,
265 x 178 mm., Paris, Musee du Louvre (photo: Sutherland
H arris 2000)
j
280
43. Anonymous (formerly attributed to Agostino Carracci),

Adoration o f the M ost Holy Name o f God, 1582, engraving
(B.XXII.97.108, only state), 503 x 361 mm. (photo: W ashington
1979)
28i
44. Agostino Carracci (after Giulio Bonasone), Skull o f an Ox,

Frontispiece to AchiUe Bocchi's Bonon symbolicarum..., Bologna,
1574, engraving (B.XVIII.148.257, only state), 111 x 83 m m . (photo:
W ashington 1979)
282
CAROLI RVINI REGIEN,

CLAK.ISSIMI, AC PRiVDENTISSIMI
Iurifconftummiq; Lcgumlntcrprcm
JtanifunUyicfuMifmtttm ////. ImuCiala Pojfoteri-
Jumatn£UtmfomaH*uiU.
C vm PjiiY H iaio Svmwi Pont*
45. Agostino Carracci, Frontispiece to Carlo Ruini’s Acutissima ac

siwtilissima..., 1575, engraving (not in B., only state), 370 x 235 mm.
(photo: Harvard Law A rt Collection)
46. Agostino Carracci (after M arcantonio Raimondi), Holy Family,
1576, engraving (not in B., only state), 168 x 197 mm. (photo:
W ashington 1979)
284
47- Agostino Carracci, Head o f a

Bacchante, ca. 1569/70, engraving
(B.XVIII.148.254, only state), 73 x
63 mm. (sheet) (photo:
W ashington 1979)
48. H ere attributed to Agostino

Carracci or Domenico Tibaldi,
H ead o f Bacchante, ca. 1569/70,
pen and brown ink w ith brush
and brown wash, 70 x 51 mm.,
Chatsworth, Duke o f Devon
shire (photo: Jaffe 1994)
285
49- Agostino Carracci, Satyr’s H ead

wtth Ass’s Ears, ca. 1569/70,
engraving (B.XVIII.147251, only
state), ca. 75 x 61 mm. (sheet)
(photo: W ashington 1979)
50. H ere attributed to Agostino

Carracci or Domenico Tibaldi,
Satyr’s Head w ith Ram’s Horns, ca.
1569/10, pen and brown ink w ith
brush and brown wash, 70 x 51
mm., Chatsworth, Duke o f
Devonshire (photo: Jaffe 1994)
286
i
Agostino Carracci, Head o f a
Damned Soul (Anima Dannata)
(after an engraving by Antonio
Salamanca [hg. 53] based on a
drawing by Michelangelo), ca.
1569, engraving (B.XVIII.147.253,
only state), ca. 73 x 61 mm.
(sheet) (photo: W ashington 1979)
52. Antonio Salamanca, Damned Soul

(Anima Dannata) (after a drawing
by Michelangelo), engraving, 177
x 125 mm. (photo: Rome 1905)
53- Luca Ciamberlano, Damned Soul {Anima Dannata),
engraving (B.XVIII.162.27, only state), 164 x 115 mm.
(pnoto: nhistrated Bartsch)
288
G r e g : x i i i: p : m a x t b o m o n
. C K E A T V rri/IT . ^
is > £
54. Agostino Carracci, Pope Gregory X III, 1572, engraving

(B.XVIII.116.146, Ist state), 137 x 130 mm. (photo: W ashington 1979)
289
Avnmnl DrjMMmtiu
55. Agostino Carracci (after a drawing by Orazio Sammacchini),

Presentation at the Temple, ca. 1578, engraving (B.XVTII.43.12, only
state), 406 x 287 mm. (photo: W ashington 1979)
56. Agostino Carracci (after a painting by Paulo Veronese),
martyrdom o fS ta . Giustina ofPaaua, 1582, engraving (B.XVIII.78.78,
4 state), 451 x 592 mm. (photo: W ashington 1979)
Agostino Carracci (after a painting by Paolo Veronese), Pietd,
1552, engraving (B.XVIII.93.102, Ist state), 407 x 286 mm. (photo:
W ashington 1979)
292
58. Annibale Carracci, Crucifixion, 1581, engraving (B.XVIII183..5, only state), 492 x
347 mm. (photo: W ashington 1979)
59- Agostino Carracci (after an etching by Federico Barocci [fig. 60}),
Madonna and Child on the Clouds, 1582, engraving (B.XVII.57.32, 1
state), 153 x 118 mm. (photo: W ashington 1979)
294
60. Federico Barocci, Madonna and Child on the Clouds, 1582,

etching (B.XVII.220.33, only state), 153 x 118 mm. (photo:
W ashington 1979)
29 5
61. D etail of fig. 6o
296
62. D etail o f fig. 59
297
63. Annibale Carracci (after an etching by Federico Barocci {fig. 60}), Madonna and
Child on the Clouds (detail), ca. 1582, engraving (B.XVII.187.10, only state), 247 x 174
mm. (photo: W ashington 1979)
298
64. Agostino Carracci and an anonymous engraver (after a design by

Raphael), Madonna and Child on the Clouds, ca. 1582, engraving
(B.XVII.60.36, only state), 248 x 176 mm. (photo: W ashington
1979)
65. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Woman
Playing a Harp, ca. 1575, oil on panel, 69 x 53 cm.,
Rome, Count Hercolani Fava Simonetti (photo:
Schleier 1994)
300
66. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Europa Feeding the Bull, ca. 1579-
80, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Camerino dEuropa, east wall)
(photo: Ottani 1966)
6j. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Europa heeding the Bull,
ca. 1579-80, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Camerino efEuropa,
north wall) (photo: Ottani 1966)
3°3
69. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Europa Sitting on the Bull, ca.
1579-80, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (1Camerino cfEuropa, west wall)
(photo: Ottani 1966)
304
70. Ludovico Carracci, Europa, with Her Maid, Sitting on the Bull, ca.
1579-80, black and white chalk on gray-blue paper, 379 x 325 nun.,
Florence, W alter Gemsheim (photo: Ottani 1966)
305
71. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Rape o f Europa, ca. 1579-80,

fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava, Camerino (PEuropa, south wall (photo:
Ottani 1966)
30 6
72. H ere attributed to Annibale Carracci, Grottescbe, ca. 1579-80,

fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Camerino d'Europa, east wall) (photo:
O ttani 1966)
307
73- Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Grottesche, ca. 1579-80,

fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Camerino (fEuropa, north wall)
(photo: O ttani 1966)
74- Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Grottesche, ca. 1579-80,
fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Camerino dEuropa, west wall)
(photo: O ttani 1966)
75- Here attributed to Annibale Carracci,
Grottescbe, ca. 1579-80, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo
Fava (Camerino cfEuropa, south wall) (photo:
Ottani 1966)
76. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Paired Satyrs
Atop an Urn, ca. 1579-80, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo
Fava (Camerino dEuropa, south wall) (photo: Ottani
1966)
3i i
77- Photograph published in 1912 o f the painted ceiling in the Camerino

dEuropa, ca. 1579, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (photo: Sighinolfi 1912)
78. Detail o f fig. 77
79- Detail of fig. 77
80. Line drawing of the crest or stemma of the Fava
family (photo: Roversi 1987)
3i 5
Anonymous woodcut of the Temple of Vesta in Vincenzo Cartari’s Le imagini de’i dei, Venice,
n*
J h
.a.
' &
_
J
■*
.
J k
.a.
) S ' .r S
_*. .*.
iJ
.d. .A.
J k >
.r. . i. _1_
S
.3.
’j A
.JS^
S b S
.(^
h
JL
- &
aI.
) vAA d$L*§»
kt. -o_ >WA>
?WJ:
tvuMtu. titil lUi '-ll*jJJ Sijfg t
$ S u •■ /../■ ,: U U U . , . , . / / / . J i . l r u ’J / n ,
: \ f e ^ vik & ;^ l l i ^ ( i f ^
■fir'd/TS->ri\*4 :
/ V-.
1556, p. 200 (photo: Cartari 1556)
T em p b in Romz della Dea Vesiz madie de gli D e i, & di

Peftz dez delfuoco,& dtlla Virginitd fignificante quel vi-
uifico calore, cbe da vita alie cafe, ouero I'znimo iiuino in-
uijibile, con Ic due V c fta li cusloditTici>cbt'lfnoco perpeiao
non fi eflinzucffe.
00
!p rr-rr -n r r
82. Courtyard of the Collegio di Spagna with frescoes by Annibale Carracci (late-nineteenth-
century photograph), ca. 1575 (photo: Fine Arts Library, Harvard University)
M
G\
83. Annibale Carracci, Emperor Augustus, ca. 1575, fresco (late-nineteenth-century
photograph), Bologna, Collegio di Spagna (courtyard, upper spandrel) (photo:
Fine Arts Library, Harvard University)
3i 8
84. Annibale Carracci, Grotesche, ca. 1575, fresco (late-nineteenth-

century photograph), Bologna, Collegio di Spagna (courtyard,
lower spandrel) (photo: Fine Arts Libraiy, HarvarciUniversity)
85. Two Scenes from the Jason Cycle, Jason Taming the Bulls and Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth (scene
XI) and Jason Fighting the watriors Bom o f the Dragon’s Teeth (scene XII), 1583/84, fresco,
Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone, west wall) (photo; Frick Art Reference Library)
O►
J4
VsO
86. Anonymous, Guglielmo Fava, inscribed 1417,
marble, formerly Bologna, Palazzo Fava
(Sola di Giasone) (photo: Sighinolii 1912)
■
321
NICOLAUS FAVA EX.

XVl'REFOP.'ADRFOW
ORATOR A: S: 14-JO: |
mm
87. Anonvmous, Nicob Fava, inscribed 1430,

marble, formerly Bologna, Palazzo Fava
(Sola di Gtasone) (photo: Sighinolfi 1912)
322
[m $ G iU N D S FAVAi
S.4TO-S:AI7PITQiRj
te v r s i» D J S .] r 4 ^
88. Anonymous, Pellegrino Fava, inscribed 1543,

marble, form erly Bologna, Palazzo Fava
{Sala di Giasone) (photo: Sighinolfi 1912)
89. Anonymous, Alessandro Fava (d. 1572), marble,
formerly Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone)
(photo: Sighinolfi 1912)
90. Gian Giacomo Caraglio after Rosso
Fiorentino, Jupiter, 1526, engraving
(B.XV.79.26), 196 x 108 mm. (photo:
Archer 1995)
91. Agostino Carracci, Jupiter,
1584, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo
Fava {Sola di Gtasone, north
wall) (photo: Ottani 1966)
92. Annibale Carracci, Pluto (terminal fig. x), The Meeting o f Jason and King Aeetes
(scene ix), and Juno (terminal fig. xi), 1583/84, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava,
{Sola di Giasone, south wall) (photo: Fine Arts Library, BLarvard University)
327
93- Annibale Carracci, Neptune (terminal fig. viii) and The Argo TransportedAcross the
Libyan Desert and the Battle with Harpies and W ild Beasts (scene VII), 1583/84,
fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava {Sola di Giasone, south wall) (photo: Fine Arts
Library, Harvard University)
328
94- Here attributed to Agostino Carracci, Jason Taming the Bulls and Sowing the
Dragon’s Teeth (scene XI), 1584, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava {Sola di Giasone,
west wall) (photo: Fine Arts Library, HarvardUniversity)
95- Ludovico Carracci, Jason Fighting the Warriors Bom o f the Dragon’s Teeth (scene
XII, detail), 1584, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sola di Giasorte, west wall) (photo:
Fine Arts Library, Harvard University)
330
96. Agostino Carracci, Jason Seizing the Golden Fleece (scene XIII, detail), 1584, fresco,
Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala ai Giasone, west wall) (photo: Fine Arts Library,
Harvard University)
K t . ' / : ■' *.v * 1 1f u •>
97. Anonymous i7th-century artist after the Carracci, Desigtisfor the a Freize, red chalk, 264 x 152 mm.,
Florence, Gabinetto disegni e stampe degli Uffizi (Photo: Frick Art Reference Library)
UJ
UJ
332
98. Here attributed to Agostino Carracci, Study for a

Pilaster, pen and brown ink with brush and gray
wash, 191 x 104 mm., Vienna, Staatlichen
Graphischen Sammlung Albertina (photo:
Museum)
99- Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, The Meeting o f Jason and KingAeetes (recto
of figure 100), ca. 1583 or 1584, pen and black ink with brush and brown was
over black chalk with some squaring in red chalk, 254 x 315 mm., Munich,
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung (photo: Washington 1999)
334
ioo. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, The Meeting o f Jason and

KingAeetes (verso o f fig. 99), ca. 1583 or 1584, black chalk, 254 x 315
mm., Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung (photo:
Washington 1999)
IOI. Agostino Carracci, Pelias Sacrificing to Neptune, ca. 1583 or 1584, pen and ink of unknown
color with brush and gray wash, squared in black chalk, 423 x 567 mm., location unknown
(photo: Harris 2000)
102. Annibale Carracci, Bacchus (verso o f fig. 103), 1583/84, red
chalk, 412 x 255 mm., Moscow, Pushkin Museum of State
Museum of Fine Arts (photo: Moscow 1995)
103. Annibale Carracci, 'Portrait o f a Man and
Study o f an Infant (recto of Fig. 99),
1583/84, red and black chalk, 412 x 255
mm., Moscow, Pushkin Museum of
State Museum of Fine Arts (photo:
Moscow 1995)
104. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci,
Bacchus, 1583/84, chalk (of unknown color),
measurements unknown, formerly Vienna,
Kislinger Collection (ca. 1935) (photo: Frick
Art Reference Library)
339
105. Annibale Carracci, Studies o f Two

P uttt, 1583-85, red chalk ancl some
charcoal or black chalk, 189 x 177
mm., London, British Museum
(photo: Turner 1995)
io 6. Annibale Carracci, Angpl Playing a Violin, 1583-85, red chalk, 164 x
201 mm., London, British Museum (photo: Museum)
107- Ludovico Carracci, Boy Holding an Offering
(recto o f fig. 108), 1583/84, black chalk ana
white chalk on bluish paper, 379 x 192 mm.,
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum (photo:
Museum)
342
108. Ludovico Carracci, M an Holding a Lamp

(verso o f fig. 107), 1583/84, black chalk and
white chalk on bluish paper, 379 x 192
mm., Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
(photo: Museum)
f
343
109. H ere attributed to Ludovico Carracci, Two Men

Dressed in Exotic Costumes, ca. 1583 or 1584, red
chalk, 378 x 221 mm., Budapest, Szepmuveszeti
Muzeum (photo: Washington 1999)
344
ESr-iraî
n o . Annibale Carracci, Procession o f Pelias to the Oracle (scene III,

detail), 1583/84, fresco, Bologna, Palazzo Fava (Sala di Giasone, east
wall) (Photo: W ashingon 1991)
h i. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, Young Man
Wearing a H eavy Cloak, red chalk, 417 x 238 mm.,
Windsor Castle, Royal Collection (photo: Fine
Arts Library Harvard University)
ii2. Ludovico Carracci, Male Nude (verso o f fig 113), ca. 1584, black
chalk, 371 x 254 mm., London, Victoria and Albert Museum
(photo: G 2970)
347
113. Ludovico Carracci, Falling Male Nude(recto of fig. 112), ca. 1584,
black chalk, 371 x 254 mm., London, Victoria and Albert
Museum (photo: Bohn 1984)
i
114. Here attributed to Ludovico Carracci, Male Nude, ca. 1588, black chalk, 216 x 303 mm.,
Windsor Castle, Royal Library (photo: G. 15517)
348
115. Ludovico Carracci, Male Fulling on a Rope, ca. 1586, black chalk,
350 x 260 mm., Chatsworth, Duke of Devonshire (photo:
Museum)
ii6. H ere attributed to Agostino Carracci, Head o fa Bearded Old Man,
1583/84, red and white chalks on gray-green paper, 233 x 173 mm.,
W indsor Castle, Royal Collection (photo: G. 21562)
35i
n8. Annibale Carracci, M ystic Marria& o f Saint Catherine, ca. 1585, oil
on canvas, 162 x 118 cm., Naples, Gallerie NazionaU di
Capodimonte (Photo: Cooney/Malalarina 1976)
119. Annibale Carracci, Pieta with Saints, 1585, oil on canvas, 374 x
238 cm., Parma, Galleria Nazionale (Photo: Cooney/
Malafarina 1976)
354
Plan of Santa Maria Maddalena (“J Cappucint”) and the Capuchin

Convent, detail from Gian Pietro Sarcfis M ap o f Parma, 1767, folio
1 (photo: Sardi 1993)
355
121. Annibale Carracci, Saint Francis Adoring the Crucifix,

1585, engraving CB.XVIII.191.15, only state), 143 x 106
mm. (photo: Washineton IQ 7 Q )
3 S6
l >EK.YM r v tm litjO C I S C '/M SIGMIS R T.O tM PTIO Nll NOiTRA.
122 . Agostino Carracci, Saint h fattcis Receiving the Stigmata, 1586,

^ Z l o n i'^ )11'72'68’ 1 S£4K)’ 453 * 317 “ (ph°t0:

Rethinking The Reform

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

Rethinking The Reform

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rethinking The Reform

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

INFORMATION TO USERS

The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the

Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by

ProQuest Information and Learning

John Joseph Potocki Chvostal

BA, University of California Irvine, 1987

MA, Oberlin College, 1990

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of

Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of

ProQuest Information and Learning Company

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

This dissertation was presented

John Joseph Potocki Chvostal, PhD

I challenge this perception of Annibale’s dominant role in the early years of

I have deliberately limited the number of figures included in this dissertation

An abbreviated reference to the source of the illustration is given within

1. Anonymous engraving, Impresa of the Carracci Academy, from Carlo Cesare

3. Anonymous engraving, Titian’s Impresa from Battista Pittoni’s Imprese di diversi

5. Francesco Brizio, Announcement o f a Meeting o f the Carracci Academy, ca. 1600-

8. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Engraved frontispiece of Carlo Carracci’s

16. Detail of fig. 15

21. Detail of fig. 20

43. Anonymous (formerly attributed to Agostino Carracci), Adoration o f the M ost

47. Agostino Carracci, Head o f a Bacchante, ca. 1569/70, engraving (B.XVIII.148.254,

48. Here attributed to Agostino Carracci or Domenico Tibaldi, Head o f Bacchante,

55. Agostino Carracci (after a drawing by Orazio Sammacchini), Presentation a t the

61. Detail of fig. 60

62. Detail of fig. 59

66. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, EuropaFeedingtheBull, ca. 1579-80, fresco,

68. Detail of fig. 67

103. Here attributed to Annibale Carracci, Portrait o f a M an and Study o f an Infant

INTRODUCTION: READING PROBLEMS

1. Charles Dempsey, “T he Carracci Reform of Painting” in Washington/New York 1986, p. 237.

Despite considerable controversies that problematise fundamental issues, a

4. See Chapter Two below.

A great deal o f literary and visual evidence exists to challenge Annibale’s

works is a daunting task that requires a broadly-based approach encompassing

Because I rely on several authors whose works have been discounted or

T he Carracci were not alone in their quest to revitalize painting. Indeed,

My interests in the artists’ education—the corso through which they learned to

T he most difficult task scholars face is determining the authorship of the

In the modem literature, Ludovico existed in Annibale’s shadow and, like a

Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984), pp. 38-40.

perception, beginning with a mediocre painting, the Mystic Marriage o f Saint

T he life of a printmaker in the Seicento was quite different from that of a

Apparendy Agostino had litde or no place in Ludovico’s workshop until the

Nonetheless, in his vita o f Annibale, Bellori developed further a crucial point

Although Malvasia admired Bellori greatly, he strongly objected to some of

Malvasia’s contextual approach to defending his thesis also departed

15. Ibid, p. 284.

I t was largely because of growing skepticism toward source material,

fin du XVIeme stick. Les Carracbes (Paris: Librairie F. Alcan, 1913).

Except for three fundamental articles by Heinrich Bodmer, Francesco

29. Washington/ New York 1986.

35. Bologna/Fort Worth, 1993.

n January 18, 1603, the citizens of Bologna witnessed a spectacular funeral

1. C. Achillini, transc. in B. Morello, forward to II Funerale dAgostin Carracciofatto in Bologna sua