Baroque style painter Annibale Carracci often painted with great reference to nature, unlike those of the mannerist period, who often elongated human figures, experimented with scale, and emphasized artificiality. Carracci, alongside Ludovico and Agostino Carracci, was a sixteenth century artist with a fervour for creating atmosphere and incorporating strong usage of light.
Most notably, Annibale Carracci brought the concept of caricature to his work, as demonstrated by the painting shown below. As you can see, there is an emphasized distortion in the expression of this person’s face, as his eyebrows are significantly raised, his mouth is agape, and his eyes seem to have just noticed the viewer of the painting. This kind of makes me feel like I am interrupting his meal. As well, I can see much natural light coming in, making his expression pop out against the dark background. I like this piece because it captures everyday life in its true, unidealized form. Compositionally, I like how the window in the back creates a bit of dimension and perspective.
In addition to caricature and light & dark, Carracci brought a new form of landscape painting to life. He used broken brush strokes to capture light and dark, as well as movement, which in turn created a strong sense of atmosphere and space. An example of his landscape work is Landscape With The Flight to Egypt, shown below.
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One reply on “annibale carracci”
Celina,
Pretty good work on Carracci! You did your research and introduced your personal feelings about the artist into your post. Possibly you could have cited his comparison and difference from his Roman contemporary Caravaggio. But that is not at issue here. Really nice reading of the Beaneater painting.
Jeff