Annibale Carracci: Religious and Mythological Works

Christ in Glory with Saints, A. Carracci (1597-1598)

This work is related to Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, who would be a great protector from 1594 to 1605. Odoardo was the brother of Ranuccio Farnese, both sons of Alexander Farnese. Odoardo was made a cardinal in 1591; he moved to Rome and settled in the Palazzo Farnese. The palace had been completed, but its decor had not. He called the Carracci, who had previously worked with him in Parma. The figure of the donor is part of that sacred conversation. He appears with the cardinal's red cape and is protected by St. Edward, and before him, St. Hermenegildo. Behind them is Santa Catalina, as is always depicted. The composition is the same as previous ones: division between the two parts, figures in the foreground, monumental, well-drawn, but with a chromatic tonal range, as he is working in Rome. He continues with these shades, a little white. In the background, the sunset *celajes* remind us of Correggio. The artwork entered the Vatican. He used to mark the vanishing point of the composition, also following the geometric composition of the Renaissance. He also plays with light. We will be alternating zones of light and shadow; based on this alternation, he is leading us to the final focus, introducing characters and houses. We also make a difference in the ratio of the images as we move away. At the top, we see the figure of Jesus, conceived as unstable, with one leg shorter than the other, to appear foreshortened, as well as those of St. Peter and St. John the Baptist.

Mythological Painting

Style indefinitely. Years later, in 1590, the frescoes in the Palazzo Magnani, Bologna, where the three are still working on stories of Romulus and Remus. Note the room that will take place in Venice from 1587 to 1588.

Venus with Satyr and Cupids, A. Carracci (1588)

It's in Venice (Venetian masters' influence). The composition, from a compositional point of view, is mannerist. The bed in the foreground, on which Venus rests, is rotated; in this way, the scene would continue into our space. The cut scene in the foreground, in the mannerist style, allows us to focus on the naked body of Venus, which is also in the foreground. We begin to find those contradictions: mythological paintings often give them a moralizing tone to justify them. We are entering what will be, after the influence of the Venetian cardinal's world, a figure in the foreground completely naked to show us the sensuality of the female body, fully Venetian, in this case. Let us see what he was seeing in Venice: a close-up naked body on which the spotlight strongly hit. There is a contrast between the beauty of the naked body of the satyr and the ugliness of the background (light and dark). This figure is related to *Diana and Callisto* by Titian (1556-1559), together with that of *Diana and Actaeon*, to be given to Philip II on the occasion of his marriage to Mary Tudor. So, the libraries have remained in England, to go to museums.

Other categories you might have been the model is that of Correggio. We must also look at the hair, usually reflected in clear and braided ribbons, etc., where pearls and precious stones are introduced, a world of luxury. Importance of earrings, bracelets, ornaments, etc. Meats are anatomies that are real. The taste of the painter is always reflected. Their bodies are thick and natural.

Table of Correggio: Zeus has become a cloud and has the nymph Io. We see her naked in a position similar to what we have seen, and that also could serve as an example for his work *Venus and Adonis*. Io's body is also a real body.

Carracci's figure is to lay on a bed covered by a red silk tapestry. Titian routinely used red in *Venus* as the color that gives warmth. It is the way this human figure has more life. To give more light, he wrapped her in the white sheet. Thus, seeking light and life around the female body.

If you look at the work of Titian, see the red with white. We must also take into account the work of Titian, a tapestry as a canopy that closes the scene; it is how to focus, the characteristic element of the Baroque.