“THE CARRACCI AND VENICE: ANNIBALE CARRACCI’S STYLISTIC RESPONSE TO VENETIAN ART, AND THE INTERMEDIATE ROLES OF LUDOVICO AND AGOSTINO CARRACCI by Catherine E. Copp A thesis submitted to the Department of Art History In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (May, 2014) Copyright © Catherine E. Copp, 2014 Abstract It has always been acknowledged that Venetian art was one of the components from which Annibale Carracci formed his painting style. There is little documentary evidence concerning Annibale’s career and no Venetian sources to inform us of his contact with Venice. Taking his art as the primary source, this study examines the timing and nature of Annibale’s contact with Venetian art and artists. It also investigates the works of his brother Agostino and his cousin Ludovico to discover their roles in directing Annibale towards Venetian art and communicating its qualities to him. The working method used is comparative analysis between Annibale’s art and key paintings he could have seen in Venice and North Italian collections. Sources such as the early biographies and the marginal comments in the Carracci’s copy of Vasari’s Vite supplement the primary artistic evidence. This study compiles and critically engages with analyses from previous scholarship. The thesis investigates the role of prints in the early orientation of the Carracci in Bologna, particularly those reproducing Titian’s work, and how these affected Annibale’s ideas about composition and the representation of figures and landscape. It reconsiders Agostino’s role as an engraver of Venetian paintings in transmitting ideas about Venetian art to Annibale. The Carracci practice of copying other artists is reviewed with a scenario tendered to explain why Annibale copied Correggio and Titian, but not Bassano, Veronese, or Tintoretto. Annibale’s and Agostino’s early adoption of drawing and painting techniques are investigated, as is Ludovico’s later technical experiments. Annibale’s travels in northern Italy as suggested by his annotations in Vasari’s Vite are explored in terms of which paintings he could have seen there and how this experience may be reflected in his art. The most highly ii Venetianizing period of all three Carracci, from about 1587 to its zenith in 1592, is refined. Annibale’s study of Venetian art is shown to have been more involved than suggested by previous scholars. Together with his observation of nature, accomplished draughtsmanship and his study of Correggio, Venetian art informed his mature style before he relocated to Rome. iii Acknowledgements I wish to thank Dr. David McTavish for his supervision of this thesis, for allowing my ideas to shape the research and analysis, leading to a unique final product. Dr. Gian Piero Cammarota and Dr. Elena Rossoni of the Pinacoteca Nazionale graciously assisted me in Bologna. The Staff at the British Museum, Louvre Cabinets des Dessins, and the Vienna Albertina, patiently brought out hundreds of drawings and prints by the Carracci for my study. Librarians at the Galleria Nazionale library in Parma and the Querini Stampalia library in Venice also assisted me. I must single out for special thanks, Dr. Baldassarre Giardina of Bologna for his intervention in obtaining entry to Palazzo Magnani, for his guidance through the San Michele complex to the Chiostro Carracci, and for his generous and continuing friendship. I owe a further debt of gratitude to Patrizia Valenti in Parma, and the staff and fellow students of the Domus Civica women’s residence, my temporary home in Venice. As time is money and vice-versa, I would like to express my thanks to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for four glorious years of worry-free academic study. Most especially I want to thank Dr. Alfred Bader and Dr. Isabel Bader for the generous Bader Fellowship Grant that allowed me to travel and study the works of art under consideration in this dissertation, and to realize a dream of seeing so many great works of art in person after more than thirty years of studying them as reproductions in books and slides. iv Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures........................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 General Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 The Context ............................................................................................................................ 3 The Historical Sources ............................................................................................................ 6 The Modern Literature .......................................................................................................... 14 Issues, Methodology and Contribution .................................................................................. 21 Chapter 2 Annibale’s Introduction to Venice & Early Works to 1583 ........................................ 28 Beginnings in Bologna .......................................................................................................... 28 The Carracci’s Exposure to Prints ......................................................................................... 30 Agostino and Annibale in Venice, 1582................................................................................. 43 Annibale’s Early Works to 1583............................................................................................ 52 Summary of Chapter 2 .......................................................................................................... 66 Illustrations for Chapter 2 ...................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 3 Annibale’s Encounters With Venetian Art, 1584-1587 .............................................. 76 Agostino’s Early Venetianizing Paintings .............................................................................. 77 Venetian Aspects of the ‘Europa’ and ‘Jason’ Frescoes ......................................................... 82 Titian’s Forms and Veronese’s Colour .................................................................................. 91 Venetian Aspects of the ‘Aeneid’ Frescoes .......................................................................... 102 Annibale’s Landscapes and the Venetian Pastoral Tradition ................................................ 106 Summary of Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................ 113 Illustrations for Chapter 3 .................................................................................................... 114 Chapter 4 The Carracci Immersion in Venetian Art, 1588-1592 ............................................... 129 The Three Carracci Look to Venice ..................................................................................... 130 Agostino’s 1589 Engravings after Tintoretto ....................................................................... 135 Annibale’s Assumption Altarpieces of 1587 and c.1590 ...................................................... 137 Annibale’s Response to the Venetian Nude ......................................................................... 138 Venetian Aspects of the ‘Founding of Rome’ Frescoes ........................................................ 147 The Carracci Immersion in Venetian Painting...................................................................... 150 v Ludovico’s Response to Venetian Art.................................................................................. 156 Venetian Exemplars for the Este Ovals ................................................................................ 163 Summary of Chapter 4 ........................................................................................................ 168 Illustrations for Chapter 4 .................................................................................................... 169 Chapter 5 Venetian Aspects of Annibale’s Mature Style, 1593-1595 ....................................... 184 Annibale’s Mature Bolognese Altarpieces ........................................................................... 187 Agostino’s Compendium of All Perfections ......................................................................... 197 The Sampieri ‘Hercules’ Frescoes and Easel Paintings ........................................................ 198 Annibale’s Final Works in Bologna ..................................................................................... 201 Ludovico’s Last Venetian-inspired Paintings ....................................................................... 206 Summary of Chapter 5 ........................................................................................................ 211 Illustrations for Chapter 5 .................................................................................................... 212 Chapter 6 The Legacy