Agostino Carracci (or Caracci; Italian pronunciation:[aɡoˈstiːnokarˈrattʃi]; 16 August 1557 – 22 March 1602) was an Italian painter, printmaker, tapestry designer, and art teacher. He was, together with his brother, Annibale Carracci, and cousin, Ludovico Carracci, one of the founders of the Accademia degli Incamminati (Academy of the Progressives) in Bologna. Intended to devise alternatives to the Mannerist style favored in the preceding decades,[1] this teaching academy helped propel painters of the School of Bologna to prominence.
Life
Agostino Carracci was born in Bologna as the son of a tailor. He was the elder brother of Annibale Carracci and the cousin of Ludovico Carracci. He initially trained as a goldsmith. He later studied painting, first with Prospero Fontana, who had been Lodovico's master, and later with Bartolomeo Passarotti. He traveled to Parma to study the works of Correggio. Accompanied by his brother Annibale, he spent a long time in Venice, where he trained as an engraver under the renowned Cornelis Cort.[2] Starting from 1574 he worked as a reproductive engraver, copying works of 16th century masters such as Federico Barocci, Tintoretto, Antonio Campi, Veronese and Correggio. He also produced some original prints, including two etchings.
Agostino's son Antonio Carracci was also a painter, and attempted to compete with his father's Academy.
An engraving by Agostino Carraci after the painting Love in the Golden Age by the 16th-century Flemish painter Paolo Fiammingo was the inspiration for Matisse's Le bonheur de vivre (Joy of Life).[4]
Critical evaluation
While his undoubted value in the graphic field is widely recognised, Agostino, as a painter, although admired by his contemporaries, ended up being overshadowed by the fame of his brother Annibale. Perhaps even his long practice of engraving ended up putting him at disadvantage, since he might have been perceived as more inclined to copy than to create.
Even Giovanni Pietro Bellori, who included Agostino Carracci in his selective collection of biographies of artists (Vite de' pittori, scultori e architetti moderni, 1672), described his activity as a painter, with the sole exception of the Communion of Saint Jerome, a work that he praises, almost entirely limited to the role of supporting his younger brother Annibale, and reproaches him for having dedicated too much of his work to graphic production.[5]
The modern critical evaluation of the painter Agostino Carracci probably still suffers from the negative legacies of the past. The fact that there is still only one important monograph dedicated to him published (Stephen E. Ostrow, from the United States, 1966, never translated into Italian), and that an individual exhibition on this artist has yet to be held, are probably significant factors that show that he remains an underrated artist.
However, there have been a positive critical reevaluation of the painter, since there is now a better awareness of his artistic role, alongside his more famous relatives, and the knowledge of his personal work is now greater.
^Cuno, James B. (July 1980). "Matisse and Agostino Carracci: A Source for the 'Bonheur de Vivre'". The Burlington Magazine. 122 (928): 503–505. JSTOR880057.