Editing Agostino Carracci

{{Short description|Bolognese painter of the Baroque (1557–1602)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Agostino Carracci
| image            = Agostino Carracci (1557-1602) - Zelfportret met uurwerk - Bologna Museo della storia di Bologna 29-04-2012 15-24-24.JPG
| image_size       = 230px
| caption          = ''Self portrait as a watchmaker''
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = 16 August 1557
| birth_place      = [[Bologna]], [[Papal States]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1602|3|23|1557|8|16}}
| death_place      = [[Parma]], [[Duchy of Parma and Piacenza]]
| nationality      = Italian
| known_for        = [[Painting]]
| training         = 
| movement         = [[Baroque]]
| notable_works    = 
| patrons          = 
| awards           = 
| signature        = 
| children         = [[Antonio Carracci|Antonio Marziale]]
| relatives        = {{ubli|[[Annibale Carracci]] (brother)|[[Ludovico Carracci]] (cousin)|[[Francesco Carracci]] (nephew)}}
}}

'''Agostino Carracci''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|r|ɑː|tʃ|i}} {{respell|kə|RAH|chee}}, {{IPAc-en|UKalso|k|ə|ˈ|r|æ|t|ʃ|i}} {{respell|kə|RATCH|ee}}, {{IPA|it|aɡoˈstiːno karˈrattʃi|lang}}; also '''Caracci'''; 16 August 1557 – 22 March 1602) was an Italian painter, [[Printmaking|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 [[Mannerism|Mannerist]] style favored in the preceding decades,<ref name=getty>[http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/488/agostino-carracci-italian-1557-1602/ Agostino Carracci] at Getty</ref> this teaching academy helped propel painters of the [[Bolognese School (painting)|School of Bologna]] to prominence.

==Life==
[[File:Bust-Length Portrait of a Woman (recto); Bust-Length Study of a Girl (verso) MET DP808290.jpg|right|thumb|''Bust-Length Portrait of a Woman'']]
[[File:'Pieta' by Agostino Carracci, The Hermitage.JPG|thumb|''The Lamentation'' (c. 1586)]]
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]].<ref name=cat>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03374c.htm Carracci] at the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''</ref>  Starting from 1574 he worked as a reproductive [[engraver]], copying works of 16th century masters such as [[Federico Barocci]], [[Tintoretto]], [[Antonio Campi]], [[Paolo Veronese|Veronese]] and [[Correggio]]. He also produced some original prints, including two [[etching]]s.

He traveled to [[Venice]] (1582, 1587–1589) and [[Parma]] (1586–1587). Together with Annibale and Ludovico he worked in Bologna on the fresco cycles in [[Palazzo Fava]] ([[Lives of Jason and Medea|''Histories of Jason and Medea'']], 1584) and [[Palazzo Magnani, Bologna|Palazzo Magnani]] ([[Scenes from the Foundation of Rome|''Histories of Romulus'']], 1590–1592). In 1592 he also painted the [[The Last Communion of Saint Jerome (Carracci)|''Communion of St. Jerome'']], now in the [[Pinacoteca di Bologna]] and considered his masterwork. In 1620, [[Giovanni Lanfranco]], a pupil of the Carracci, famously accused another Carracci student, [[Domenichino]], of [[The Last Communion of Saint Jerome (Domenichino)|plagiarizing this painting]]. From 1586 is his altarpiece of the ''Madonna with Child and Saints'', in the National Gallery of [[Parma]].  In 1598 Carracci joined his brother Annibale in Rome, to collaborate on the decoration of the Gallery in [[Palazzo Farnese, Rome|Palazzo Farnese]]. From 1598 to 1600 is a ''triple Portrait'', now in [[Naples]], an example of genre painting. In 1600 he was called to Parma by Duke [[Ranuccio I Farnese]] to begin the decoration of the Palazzo del Giardino, but he died before it was finished. His friend the poet [[Claudio Achillini]] composed an [[epitaph]], which was later published by [[Carlo Cesare Malvasia]] in the life of the Carracci.<ref>{{cite book|title=Malvasia's Life of the Carracci: Commentary and Translation|publisher=[[Penn State Press]]|isbn=9780271044378|page=8|author=Anne Summerscale|date=2000 }}</ref>

Agostino's son [[Antonio Marziale Carracci|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).<ref>Thomas Puttfarken, "Mutual Love and Golden Age: Matisse and 'gli Amori de' Carracci", ''The Burlington Magazine'', 124 (Apr. 1982): 203–208.</ref>

==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.<ref>Giovanni Pietro Bellori, ''Le vite de' pittori, scultori et architetti moderni'', 1672 (Italian)</ref>

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.

==Works==
''Oil on canvas unless otherwise noted''

* 1573 – ''Pietà'' ([[Muscarelle Museum of Art]], [[Williamsburg, Virginia]]<ref name="Pietà">{{cite web | year=2018 | title=Pietà, (engraving). | work=In the Light of Caravaggio: Dutch and Flemish Paintings from Southeastern Museums | publisher=[[Muscarelle Museum of Art]] | url=https://proficio.campus.wm.edu/RediscoveryProficioPublicSearch/ShowItem.aspx?5625+ | access-date=20 Jun 2018 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>)
* 1586 – ''[[Madonna and Child with Saints (Agostino Carracci)|Madonna and Child with Saints]]'' ([[Galleria nazionale di Parma]])
* {{Circa|1586}} – ''Lamentation'' or ''Pietà'' (Hermitage, St. Petersburg<ref>[http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/01.+paintings/31787 Agostino Caracci, ''The Lamentation''] in the Hermitage</ref>)
* {{Circa|1589–1595}} – {{lang|it|Reciprico Amore}} (engraving, Baltimore Museum of Art<ref>{{cite journal |title=Matisse and Agostino Carracci: A Source for the 'Bonheur de Vivre'|first=James B. |last=Cuno|journal=The Burlington Magazine|volume=122|issue=928 |date=July 1980 |pages=503–505 |jstor=880057}}</ref>)
* {{Circa|1590}} – ''Annunciation'' (Musée du Louvre, Paris<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=18809|title=Louvre Museum Official Website|work=louvre.fr|year=1575 }}</ref>)
* 1590–1595 – ''[[Portrait of a Woman as Judith]]'' (private collection)
* {{Circa|1592–1593}} – ''Assumption'' (Ss. Salvatore church, Bologna)
* 1592–1597 – ''[[The Last Communion of Saint Jerome (Carracci)|The Last Communion of Saint Jerome]]'' ([[Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna]])
* {{Circa|1595}} – ''Head of a Faun in a Concave'' (drawing in roundel, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC)
* 1598–1600 – ''[[Triple Portrait of Arrigo, Pietro and Amon]]'' ([[National Museum of Capodimonte]], Naples)

===Fresco collaborations with Annibale and Ludovico===
*''[[Life of Aeneas]]'' ([[Palazzo Fava, Bologna]])
*''[[Lives of Jason and Medea]]'' (Palazzo Fava, Bologna)
*''[[Scenes from the Foundation of Rome]]'' ([[Palazzo Magnani, Bologna]])
*''[[Palazzo Sampieri frescoes|Life of Hercules]]'' ([[Palazzo Sampieri Talon]], Bologna)

===Undated===
* ''The Penitent Magdalen'' (private collection)
* [[Erotic art of Agostino Carracci|Carracci's erotic work]] (prints)

==See also==
* [[The Carracci]]

==Bibliography==
* Stephen E. Ostrow, ''Agostino Carracci'' (1966), Thesis (Ph.D.) New York University, New York

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons-inline}}

{{Agostino Carracci}}
{{Annibale Carracci}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carracci, Agostino}}
[[Category:1557 births]]
[[Category:1602 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Italian male painters]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Italian Baroque painters]]
[[Category:Painters from Bologna]]
[[Category:Italian printmakers]]
[[Category:Italian erotic artists]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Sibling artists]]
[[Category:Catholic painters]]
[[Category:Catholic decorative artists]]