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CARACCI, LODOVICO, AGOSTINO

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 299 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARACCI, LODOVICO, See also:AGOSTINO , and ANNIBALE, three celebrated See also:Italian painters, were See also:born at See also:Bologna in 1555, 1557, and 156o respectively. Lodovico, the eldest, son of a See also:butcher, was See also:uncle to the two younger, Agostino and Annibale, sons of a tailor, and had nearly finished his professional studies before the others had begun their See also:education. From being a reputed See also:dunce, while studying under See also:Tintoretto in See also:Venice, he gradually See also:rose, by an attentive observation of nature and a careful examination of the See also:works of the See also:great masters.preserved at Bologna, Venice, See also:Florence and See also:Parma, to measure himself with the teachers of his See also:day, and ultimately projected the opening of a See also:rival school in his native See also:place. Finding himself unable to accomplish his See also:design without assistance, he sent for his two nephews, and induced them to abandon their handicrafts (Agostino being a See also:goldsmith, and Annibale a tailor) for the profession of See also:painting. Agostino he first placed under the care of See also:Fontana, retaining Annibale in his own studio; but he afterwards sent both to Venice and Parma to copy the works of See also:Titian, Tintoretto and See also:Correggio, on which his own See also:taste had been formed. On their return, the three relatives, assisted by an eminent anatomist, See also:Anthony de la Tour, opened, in 1589, an See also:academy of painting under the name of the Incamminati (or, as we might See also:paraphrase it, the Right Road), provided with numerous casts, books and See also:bassi-rilievi, which Lodovico had collected in his travels. From the affability and kindness of the Caracci, and their zeal for the scientific education of the students, their academy rose rapidly in popular estimation, and soon every other school of See also:art in Bologna was deserted and closed. They continued together till, at the invitation of See also:Cardinal See also:Farnese, Annibale and Agostino went to See also:Rome in 1600 to paint the See also:gallery of the cardinal's See also:palace. The See also:superior praises awarded to Agostino inflamed the See also:jealousy of Annibale, already kindled by the brilliant reception given by the pupils of the Incamminati to Agostino's still highly celebrated picture of the " Communion of St See also:Jerome," and the latter was dismissed to Parma to paint the great See also:saloon of the See also:Casino. Here he died in 16o2, when on the See also:eve of See also:finishing his renowned painting of "See also:Celestial, Terrestrial and Venal Love." Annibale continued to See also:work alone at the Farnese gallery till the designs were completed; but, disappointed at the miserable remuneration offered by the cardinal, he retired to See also:Naples, where an unsuccessful contest for a great work in the See also:church of the See also:Jesuits threw him into a See also:fever, of which he died in 1609. Lodovico always remained at his academy in Bologna (excepting for a See also:short visit to his See also:cousin at Rome), though invited to execute paintings in all parts of the See also:country. He died in 1619, and was interred in the church of See also:Santa Maria Maddalena.

The works of Lodovico are numerous in the chapels of Bologna. The most famous are—The " Madonna See also:

standing on the See also:moon, with St See also:Francis and St Jerome beside her, attended by a See also:retinue of angels "; " See also:John the Baptist," " St Jerome," " St See also:Benedict " and " St See also:Cecilia "; and the "Limbo of the Fathers." He was by far the most amiable of the three painters, rising superior to all feelings of jealousy towards his rivals, and though he received large sums for his productions, yet, from his almost unparalleled liberality to the students of the academy, he died poor. With skill in painting Agostino combined the greatest proficiency in See also:engraving (which he had studied under See also:Cornelius de See also:Cort) and high accomplishments as a See also:scholar. He died not untroubled by remorse for the indecencies which, in accordance with the corruption of the See also:time, he had introduced into some of his engravings. The works of Annibale are more diversified in See also:style than those of the others, and comprise specimens of painting after the manner of Correggio, Titian, See also:Paolo Veronese, See also:Raphael and See also:Michelangelo. The most distinguished are the ` Dead See also:Christ in the See also:lap of the Madonna "; the " See also:Infant and St John "; " St See also:Catherine "; " St See also:Roch distributing See also:alms " (now in the See also:Dresden gallery); and the " Saviour wailed over by the Maries," at See also:present in See also:possession of the See also:earl of See also:Carlisle. He frequently gave great importance to the landscape in his compositions. The reputation of Annibale is tarnished by his jealousy and vindictiveness towards his See also:brother, and the licentiousness of his disposition, which contributed to bring him to a comparatively See also:early See also:grave. The three Caracci were the founders of the so-called Eclectic school of painting,—the principle of which was to study in the works of the great masters the several excellences for which they had been respectively pre-eminent, and to combine these in the productions of the school itself; for instance, there was to be thedesign of Raphael, the See also:power of Michelangelo, the See also:colour of Titian, and so on. See A. Venturi, I Caracci e la loro scuola, 1895. (W.

M.

End of Article: CARACCI, LODOVICO, AGOSTINO

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