Italian Baroque Paintings
•
Carracci: Madonna and Child with St. John
• Crespi: Self-Portrait
During the late sixteenth century in the city of Bologna, three artists - Ludovico Carracci and his cousins Annibale and Agostini - laid the foundations for the style known as the Baroque. In 1582, they founded the Accademia degli Incamminati, which became the most popular studio in the city. Their course of instruction included theoretical studies as well as painting and drawing. To counter the prevailing style of Mannerism with its crowded compositions and unnaturally posed figures, the Carracci advocated a return to art based on observation and classical compositions. This emphasis on naturalism paved the way for the dynamic compositions and heightened emotional content of the Baroque era. The Carracci attracted many pupils and followers, a number of whom - Guido Reni, Guercino, and later Guiseppe Crespi and Ubaldo Gandolfi - became the leading Bolognese painters of subsequent generations.
The University of Kentucky Art Museum contains paintings
and works on paper by all the artists associated with the Bolognese school
of Italian Baroque art.
AGOSTINO CARRACCI Italian, 1557-1602
Madonna and Child with St. John
Oil on canvas, 38 x 31 1/2"
Purchase: Gaines Challenge Fund 1987.3
GIUSEPPE MARIA CRESPI Italian, 1665-1747
Self-Portrait, ca. 1712
Oil on canvas, 39 x 32 3/8"
Purchase: Gaines Challenge Fund 1983.1
