In addition to the principles of ceiling painting, Annibale Carracci excelled in his painting of romantic landscapes as well as historical subjects. He established a new type of landscape with figures in his Landscape with the Flight into Egypt, of about 1603-4. The sacred figures in relation to the vastness of the landscape are tiny. They are on a level with the observer and the landscape is no longer fantastic but based on a real one. The landscape was derived from studies made outdoors but constructed in the studio. Although a prolific artist Annibale Carracci painted little later in life. He died at Rome and was buried in the Pantheon near Raphale.
Make sure you know how to pronounce the following words:
Baroque; chariot; Bologna; Pan; caryatid; Cyclops; Selena; Paris; nymph; Polyphemus; Galatea; Bacchus; Ariadne
Notes
Love of Gods – «Метаморфозы»
Landscape with the Flight into Egypt -» Пейзаж с Бегством в Египет»
Tasks
I. Read the text. Make sure you understand it. Mark the following statements true or false.
1. The pioneers of Baroque monumental painting in Florence were the brothers CarraccI.
2. The major undertaking of Baroque painting in Rome was the gallery of the Palazzo Fornese, painted entirely by Ludovico CarraccI.
3. The subject matter of the Love of the Gods was incompatible with the ecclesiastic status of its patron.
4. After the Mannerist interlude of public prudery a cardinal could commission frescoes on the subjects of ancient myths.
5. Divine love, conceived at the heart of the universe, is regarded as the motive power that draws together all the elements of the ceiling.
6. In the Love of Gods the Carracci established a new landscape with figures.
II. How well have you read? Can you answer the questions?
1. What was in progress in sixteenth-century Bologna? What kind of Renaissance did the Carracci try to form? What was the Carracci's aim?
2. What did the Carracci adopt for their ceiling frescoes from the Sistine Ceiling? Why did the Carracci apply simulated architecture and sculpture to the barrel vault?
3. What does the subject matter of the Love of Gods veil? How is the Love of Gods interpreted?
4. What gods and goddesses are pictured in the Love of Gods'?
5. What do the four smaller lateral scenes in the Love of Gods depict? What do the two horizontal framed pictures show? What do the end scenes represent? What does the central panel show? What comes to a climax in the central scene? What is flanked by Mercury, Paris, Pan and Selena? How are these gods pictured?
