Saturday, April 15, 2017

Studies by Agostino Carracci

Agostino Carracci
Venus, Vulcan and Cupid
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Study of figure in movement 
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection,  Windsor

" . . . Agostino was interrupted by premature death just at the time when he was maturing works worthy of his brush: a misfortune that had threatened him long since, owing to his poor health and constant indispositions.  It was reported to me by Stigliani, the famous poet, who happened to be in Parma at the time at the court of the duke, that Agostino was emerging from a play at night when he was so crushed at the door that, being corpulent and unwell, he had a fainting fit and lost consciousness, and his death was hastened.  And so, foreseeing that he must soon make the passage to the other life, he retired to the convent of the Capuchins, and with their example he devoted himself to the contemplation of God and heavenly things, and in penitence begged forgiveness for his sins.  He painted Saint Peter lamenting his sin; and because he had entered deeply into  the thought of death, he began to paint the Last Judgment; but he had barely begun to sketch it out when his illness advanced to the final stage and he gave up his soul to the Creator on the 22nd day of March of the year 1602, at 43 years of age.  Annibale was grief-stricken and felt the loss of his brother bitterly, and he wished to erect a monument to him in the cathedral where he was buried, but was forestalled by two friends of Agostino, Giovanni Battista Magnani, the architect, and Giuseppe Guidetti, who placed on his tomb the marble plaque and the inscription composed by Achillini, which is as follows:  To God Best and Greatest. Traveler, here lies Agostino Carracci whom thou knowest most likely by his name alone. Here indeed is that man who while painting others, painted himself in these frescoes for eternity. Although he does not live, Go and pray God on behalf of this excellent man. He died 11 March 1602 at the age of 43 years. Giovanni Battista Magnani of Padua and Giuseppe Guidetti of Bologna, his faithful and sorrowing friends, have made this resting place for his glorious ashes." 

– from the Life of Agostino Carracci (1672) by Giovan Pietro Bellori, translated by Alice Sedgwick Wohl (Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Agostino Carracci
Study of seated draped figure
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Study of standing draped figures
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

attributed to Agostino Carracci
Sirens supporting a Basin
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Group of Eight Figures
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Sketch for mother with child
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Study of standing nude
1590s
drawing
Royal Collection,  Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Portrait of young man in cap
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Portrait of young woman
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Sheet of sketches
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Sheet of sketches
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Galatea (study for fresco)
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Agostino Carracci
Portrait of young woman
before 1602
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor