Annibale Carracci was reared in devotion to Raphael, whose fine St. Cecilia was at Bologna. Venice lured him, but he was rebuffed by Tintoretto. Annibale made profound studies of Correggio at Parma, whence he writes that Raphael now seems wooden to him in comparison. He is now launched on the impossible quest of combining with the austere grandeur of the Roman School, the charm of Venetian coloring and the emotional instability of Correggio. Thus it was an attempt to restore the grand style largely in the name of one of its chief disintegrators, and as such it was from the first headed for failure. Yet it was an attempt dictated by the times, and the inevitable choice of any superior spirit who wished to reknit the Renaissance tradition.
It was the moment of the Catholic Reaction and of the endeavor of the new Jesuit Order to rebuild a shaken Church on the basis of persuasion. Largely shorn of authority, the Church must now be popular or perish. It wisely chose to be popular, adopting the thrilling novelties of Baroque architecture, borrowing from the opera its swelling choral cadences, everywhere stressing the note of charm, surprise and emotion. So the moderation and austerity which underlay the Renaissance style were forbidden to the Eclectics, and they chiefly differed from the rival Naturalists in choosing to make their sensationalism as decorous as the circumstances permitted. Such is the social background of the Carracci’s reform, and they deserve utmost credit for achieving so much under such limitations.
Fig. 315. Lodovico Carracci. Assumption.—Bologna.
Fig. 316. Annibale Carracci. Madonna in Glory.—Bologna.
Agostino (1568–1602) was the brains of the family, courtier, scholar, man of the world. Annibale (1560–1609) was the nerves,—moody, shy, solitary, with titan ambitions in a small and unprepossessing frame. His cousin, Lodovico (1555–1619), was possibly the best artist of the three if only because he attempted less and followed sentimentalism frankly without too much bothering about grandeur.
Lodovico, Figure [315], and Annibale, Figure [316], enriched the churches of Bologna with great animated altar-pieces which enthralled their contemporaries, and today seem more than a little affected. But that is merely because we no longer share what was an entirely sincere way of religious feeling. They started an Academy in which the antique, the nude, and competitive composition were the staple of instruction quite as in French and British State art schools today. In the Bolognese palaces the Carracci did in fresco great mythological series, consulting Homer, Virgil and Ovid and Apollonius of Rhodes. In the main they had friezes to do, and they drew heavily from Correggio, tempering his alacrity with something of the heavier energy of the Roman style.
In 1585 the Carracci set up their Academy. It was soon thronged. Agostino, a courtly, learned and accomplished person, was the leading influence, being lecturer as well as drawing master. Even, Annibale, habitually an offish and difficult man, is said to have been affable and helpful to his disciples.
In studying his pictures, one feels that he was thwarted of his true development. Not only was he much of a realist, painting tavern scenes, Figure [317], after Caravaggio’s lead, but also a studious and charming landscape painter, Figure [318]. His soberly colored and gracefully composed landscapes were an important influence on Poussin. Annibale’s adventures in the grand style, though audacious and loudly applauded, really did some violence to his modest and sensitive spirit. His was the least academic temperament imaginable, and the final disastrous quarrel with his eminently academic brother, Agostino, was inevitable.