The Carracci

The Carracci (/kəˈrɑːtʃi/ kə-RAH-chee, UK also /kəˈrætʃi/ kə-RATCH-ee,[1][2] Italian: [karˈrattʃi] ⓘ) were a Bolognese family of artists that played an instrumental role in bringing forth the Baroque style in painting.

The school was called the Accademia degli Incamminati, and its main focus was to oppose and challenge Mannerist artistic practices and principles in order to create a renewed art of naturalism and expressive persuasion.

The artistic and theoretical activity of the Carracci is recognized by critics and historians such as André Chastel and Giulio Carlo Argan to have decisively contributed to the formation of the figurative Baroque and to new pictorial solutions based on the recuperation of the classical and Renaissance tradition, renewed by study of nature.

On these cultural and aesthetic bases the Carracci developed their work as theorists of artistic renewal, emphasizing the humanity of subjects and the clarity of the sacred scenes.

Another point of reference was the work of Giovanni Andrea Gilio, author of Due Dialoghi...degli errori dei pittori ("two dialogues...on the errors of painters") in 1564 in which he criticized the excesses of refinement, of allegories and the bizarre inventions of the Mannerist art.

The stories and the characters rendered lifelike in imitation of nature had to then be ennobled by the exercise of the art and refined on the example of the great masters of the past such as Raphael and Michelangelo, but also Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Correggio, and Parmigianino.

[4] Initially named Accademia dei Desiderosi ("Academy of the Desirous"), the school most likely began as an informal gathering of young artists in Ludovico Carracci's studio.

It is believed that Ludovico Carracci occupied an administrative position, while Agostino was responsible for gathering new information, and Annibale for providing creativity, inspiration, and lessons on painting technique.

[5] Agostino brought to the school a wealth of knowledge in a variety of subjects, including art, music, philosophy, math, astronomy, geography, cartography, anthropology, and natural history.

[3] General Texts Articles, Essays, and Contributions L'arte in Emilia e in Romagna: da Correggio a Morandi catalogo della mostra a cura di Andrea Emiliani e Michela Scolaro, pp.