Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Contemporary Opinion about Ludovico Carracci

Ludovico Carracci
St Jerome translating the Bible
1591
oil on canvas
Chiesa di San Martino Maggioire, Bologna

"Ludovico was more prolific and fertile in invention, far surpassing the other two, and for this reason they would turn to him when there was a need, for he was always able to think up dozens of variations on a single idea. Furthermore, his way of painting was bolder and more resolute, whereas neither Agostino nor Annibale in his later years was ever satisfied with a work, and would keep returning to it and correcting it. Ludovico surpassed everyone in depicting hands and feet, and made them so technically perfect, and so graceful, whatever the pose or view, that I am emboldened to say that no other master has ever matched him, which explains why the phrase the beautiful hands of Ludovico has become a byword in every school of painting. No one was better than Ludovico at discovering the poses that were most perfectly suited and particular to the action that was being represented, so that if someone attempted to come up with a variation, a better one could not be found. See for instance the majestic gesture with which Saint Jerome, in the altarpiece in S. Martino Maggiore [above], brandishes his quill as he asks for divine inspiration, his noble head turned to the heavens, and his left hand resting on his open book, a pose that Guido in his sketches tried in vain to vary in many different ways but always fell back upon in the end ..."

 from The Life of the Carracci by Carlo Cesare Malvasia, originally published in Italian in 1678, translated into English in 2000 with commentary by Anne Summerscale (Pennsylvania State University Press)

Ludovico Carracci
St Sebastian thrown into the Cloaca Maxima
ca, 1612

drawing
Louvre

Ludovico Carracci
St Sebastian thrown into the Cloaca Maxima
1612
oil on canvas
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Ludovico Carracci
Alexander and Thais burning Persepolis
ca. 1592
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Luodvico Carracci
Alexander and Thais burning Persepolis
ca. 1592
fresco
Palazzo Francia, Bologna

And the King seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy
Thais led the way,
To light him to his prey,
And, like another Helen, fir'd another Troy.                                 

 from Alexander's Feast, or, The Power of Music : an ode in honor of St Cecilia's Day, 1697 by John Dryden

Ludovico Carracci
Madonna & Child with Angels
ca. 1595-1610
drawing
British Museum

Ludovico Carracci
Madonna & Child with Angels
ca. 1595-1610
etching , engraving
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Ludovico Carracci
Portrait of an old woman
ca. 1590
oil on canvas
Palazzo d'Accursio, Bologna

Ludovico Carracci
Portrait of a widow
1588-89
oil on canvas
private collection

Ludovico Carracci
Birth of the Virgin
1605-07
oil on canvas
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna

Ludovico Carracci
Kiss of Judas
1589-90
oil on canvas
Princeton University Art Museum

Ludovico Carracci
St Peter in penitence 
ca. 1613
oil on canvas
private collection

Ludovico Carracci
The Crowning with Thorns
1595
oil on canvas
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna

Ludovico Carracci
The Trinity with the Dead Christ
ca. 1590
oil on canvas
Pinacoteca Vaticana

Ludovico Carracci
Ascension
1597
oil on   canvas
Chiesa di Santa Cristina, Bologna
 
Ludovico Carracci
Paradiso
1616
oil on canvas
Chiesa di San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna

Among music-making angels in Ludovico'a painted vision of Paradise (above) there is a partly-shaded figure in blue at upper left reaching out with clashing cymbals. At lower right, an angel in white prepares to play a flute while his neighbor sends a divine column of air into the workings of a slide trombone.