Monday, April 17, 2017

Prints by Annibale Carracci, with Portraits

Annibale Carracci
Self-portrait
ca. 1575-80
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Curators at the Royal Collection believe Annibale Carracci was still a teenager and a student of his cousin Ludovico when he drew the self-portrait above. One of his earliest engravings appears immediately below, a monochrome copy of Lorenzo Sabbatini's newly painted altarpiece in Bologna.

Annibale Carracci after Lorenzo Sabbatini
Holy Family with St Michael trampling Devil
and conveying human souls to Christ

1582
engraving
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
St Francis of Assisi
1585
engraving
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
Susanna and the Elders
ca. 1590-92
engraving
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
Mary Magdalene in the wilderness
1591
etching, engraving
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
St Jerome in the wilderness
ca. 1591
engraving
British Museum

Domenico Santi
Portrait of Annibale Carracci
ca. 1640-90
etching
British Museum

The two print-portraits of Annibale above and below were both made posthumously, tributes to growing fame, rephrasing already-existing images from his lifetime.

Ignazio Enrico Hugford (draughtsman)
Portrait of Annibale Carracci
ca. 1769-75
engraving
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
Venus and Satyr
1592
engraving
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
Christ of Caprarola
1597
etching, engraving, drypoint
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
Madonna della Scodella
1606
etching, engraving
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
Christ crowned with thorns
1606
etching
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
Adoration of the Shepherds
ca. 1606
engraving
British Museum

Annibale Carracci
Self-portrait
drawing
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Art historians seem agreed that the final image is a genuine self-portrait by Annibale, though some date it early in the career and some late. Some think they can see the artist manifesting the careworn and dejected state (as described in the sources) that preceded his premature death.