The success of Annibale Carracci as a fresco painter in Rome
encouraged a number of his pupils from Bologna to follow his example and seek
commissions from rich and powerful patrons in the papal city.
Bologna to Rome
The Carracci family of artists comprised Ludovico
(1555-1619) and his cousins Agostino (1557-1602) and Annibale (1560-1609), who
were brothers. They developed a style of painting that moved away from
constrained and formal “Mannerism” and incorporated sentiment and naturalism in
what became known as the “Baroque”, although they were still wedded to the
basic principles of Classicism. This trend was seen in a range of works in
portraiture, landscape and religious painting that engaged the emotions of the
viewer.
Ludovico’s studio became an academy of art, known from about
1590 as the Accademia degli Incamminati, in which the Carracci worked on a variety
of commissions and also took on pupils who were instructed in the techniques
and philosophy of the Baroque.
In 1595 Annibale Carracci settled in Rome at the invitation
of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese. His work for the Cardinal included painting frescoes,
mainly of scenes from Greek mythology, on the walls and ceiling of the Farnese
Gallery. He was inspired by the example of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel to
incorporate feigned architectural features in his design. His work, which also
extended to history and landscape painting, was much admired for its freshness
and drama.
Annibale’s success gave a number of his former pupils the
idea that they could follow in his footsteps. Rome clearly offered
opportunities that Bologna could not, and so there was something of a flood of
Bolognese artists who tried their luck in Rome during the early years of the 17th
century and who brought Baroque influences with them that they then became
instrumental in developing further. Some of these artists are mentioned below:
Domenichino Zampieri (1581-1641)
Domenichino – by which name he is usually known – arrived in
Rome in 1602 and began by assisting Annibale Carracci at the Farnese Gallery. His
first independent work of any importance was in 1608, this being a fresco
entitled “The Scourging of St Andrew” that was reminiscent of the work of
Raphael with its cool coloring and lucid spatial structure.
His style developed greater richness, in terms of coloring
and composition, and he displayed considerable skill in organizing works that
incorporated a large number of figures. However, he had little creative
imagination and there is an overall sense of dullness in much of his extensive
output.
Francesco Albani (1578-1660)
Albani moved to Rome in 1601 and concentrated on frescoes at
first. He worked alongside Domenichino on decorating the Giustiniani Palace at
Bassano di Sutri. However, his most characteristic work was on canvas, notably
small-scale works that were warm in color and evoked a poetic and dreamy mood.
It would appear that his influences included Venetian painting as well as his
earlier training by the Carraccis.
Guido Reni (1575-1642)
Reni moved to Rome alongside Francesco Albani, but was
destined to become a far greater painter. He concentrated on mythological and
religious scenes, and portraits, in both fresco and oils, but he never painted
landscapes.
One of Reni’s most characteristic works was “The Massacre of
the Innocents” painted in 1611. This painting shows both the progress made by
and the limitations of the Baroque in developing Classicism. Emotion is clearly
evident in the expressions on the faces of the mothers whose children are being
murdered and the men doing the murdering, but Classicism demanded harmony and
balance, such that if an emotion was extreme the gestures of the characters in
question must be suitably dramatic, which does not accord with most human
experience. This is why modern viewers tend to find Classical art difficult to
come to terms with.
(The Massacre of the Innocents, by Guido Reni)
Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647)
Lanfranco came from Parma, rather than Bologna, but he was
trained in Parma by Agostino Carracci, after the latter had moved there from
Bologna, and then by Annibale Carracci in Rome. He worked in various places in
northern Italy, but some of his best-known work was done in Rome.
Notable works by Lanfranco include frescoes at the Sala
Regia in the Quirinal Palace, Rome (1616-17), and eight huge canvases (1624-5)
that relate to the Eucharist and were designed to decorate the Capella del
Sacramento in San Paolo Fuori le Mura, Rome. His most famous fresco was the
“Assumption of the Virgin” inside the dome of San Andrea della Valle (below).
Lanfranco later moved to Naples, because he felt that he was
being overshadowed by Pietro da Cortona and Gianlorenzo Bernini, and while
there he undertook important commissions that themselves influenced the next
generation of Neapolitan painters. However, he ended his days back in Rome.
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (1591-1666)
He is commonly known by his nickname of Guercino, which
means “squint eyed” due to a sight defect that he had from childhood. He was
born in Cento, a town not far from Bologna, and he was influenced by the
Carraccis although he was not directly trained by them. His family was too poor
to allow him to undertake formal study and he acquired knowledge and experience
wherever he could get it, which included Venice and Ferrara as well as Bologna.
Guercino’s breakthrough came courtesy of Cardinal Alessandro
Ludovisi of Bologna who admired his work and offered him commissions. When the
Cardinal became Pope Gregory XV in 1621, Guercino was summoned to Rome to paint
an altarpiece in St Peter’s. His masterpiece is generally regarded as being a
fresco of “Aurora” on the ceiling of the Casino Ludovisi (below).
When the Pope died in 1623 Guercino returned to Cento and
worked on a string of altarpieces and mythological works for the rest of his
life. However, his later work declined considerably in quality, due mainly to
his acquired conviction that emotion did not, after all, have a role to play in
Classicism.
© John Welford
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