CARRACCI, kiir-riVelii% or CARACCI. A family of Bolognese painters. founders of the Bolognese School (q.v.1, The chief representa iVeti, LODOVICO. AGOSTINO, and A NNI1SALE, worked and taught together: their style is simi lar, and they may therefore be treated together. Lodo•ico, the eldest, was born in Bologna, April 21, the son of a butcher. Ile studied there under Prospero Fontana, the :Mannerist, and in Florence under Passignano. In Florence he also became thoroughly acquainted with the works of Andrea del Santo. Ile was inllateneed most of all by Corn„io in Parma and by his pupil Parmiggianino. and in Venice he studied chiefly Veronese and Tintoret to. With this equipment he returned to Bologna and was ad mitted into the guild of painters on March 2.3, 1578. Ile had in the meanwhile formed the ideal of an art which should unite the excellences of the chief Italian schools. and associated with himself the two sons of his father's cousin, who were to help him carry it out.
.Agostino, the elder of the two, was born in Bologna. November 3, 1560, the son of a lailor. De was intended for a goldsmith, but upon Lodi). vico's advice lie studied painting under Fontana, and engraving under Domenico Tit aldi. Ills brother Annihale. horn November 3, DIGO, was to be a tailor. but was taken into Lodovivo's house to learn painting. The latter sent both brothers to Parma and Venice to study. in par tienlar. was inlin'e;iSell by Cmreggio. and has left admirable copies, now in the Pina•oteca of Parma, of that master's frescoes in the Tribune of San Giovanni. In Venice he studied Titian and Veronese, while Agostino became a friend of Tintoretto, and occupied himself chiefly with engraving, as a pupil of Cornelius tort (q.v.).
Upon their return to Bologna, in 15S2, Lodo ri•o, who had attained prominence, associated them with Mill in the decoration of Palazzo lava. The subjects represented were "Scenes from the :Eneid" and the "Voyage of the Argo nauts"; and the frescoes, being first attempts, were of no great artistic merit. But the hostile criticism which they caused. especially by reason of their naturalism, mused the Carracei to found their famous academy. (See PoLocNEsE ScnooL OF PAINTING.) They called it the "Aeeadvmia, th•gli Ineaminati" (i.e. of those on the right • road), and endeavored to give their pupils a theoretical and practical knowledge of painting, instead of the mere manual dexterity of the Mannerists. Their means of instruction included
living models. dissection of dead bodies, plaster casts, the antique, drawings and engravings of the great masters, lectures on perspective and color. This was, in fact, the first modern acad emy of art, and it soon became the most impor tant in Italy. Its chief endeavor was to unite the excellences of all Italian schools of the great period. The idea was originally Lodovieo's, but the scholarly Agostino gave the theoretical and antiquarian instruction. At this period the Car racci worked much together, and it is difficult to determine the part of each in the common result. Their styles of painting are very similar: good drawing, a certain generality of type, and color based upon a study of the Venetians, and espe cially of Correggio. In general, we eau go no further than to say of this joint work that the design and composition arc due to Agostino, but the execution to the other two. In 1589 they finished their second important work in com mon: the frieze of Palazzo 'Magnani, represent ing the "Story of Romulus." In their third joint commission. the decoration of Palazzo Sampieri, each painted the ceiling of a different room, Lodovieo representing the "Battle of a Giant with Zeus": Agostino, "Hercules and Atlas"; and Annihale. `Hercules Encouraged by Virtue." Thus we have a basis for the comparison of their individual styles. Lodovi•o's art is more virile and grander in form than that of the others: it contains more pathos, more violent action. re minding one somewhat of :Nlichelangelo or Tin toretto. it has trace, of mannerism, from which the others are free. llis coloring is derived mostly from Correggio, and is inferior to that of his cousins. Agostino's was exact in drawing, harmonious in composition, and delicate in color. Ili; work is the mo-t retitled of the three, and has greater intelleetual content: for while his learning chastened his art, it did not interfere with it. Annibale was a more facile painter. and executed a far larger number of pieces. His imagination was more spontaneous, and his art more natural and naive. His colors are fresh and bright. but not so harmonious as those of Agostino.