Annibale Carracci

Baroque painter Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) was the most talented of three painters in his family and a vital force in creating the Baroque style. Born in Bologna to a tailor, he studied with his older cousin Lodovico and brother Agostino. Together they founded the Accademia degli Incamminati in 1582, considered the first major art school based on life drawing. This academy became the model for later European art schools and trained masters including Domenichino and Guido Reni.

Annibale's travels through northern Italy in the 1580s exposed him to Venetian color and Correggio's soft modeling, which he combined with Florentine draftsmanship. His greatest work was the ceiling frescoes of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (1597-1600), depicting loves of the classical gods. These frescoes rivaled Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling in influence. Annibale also pioneered the ideal landscape and developed caricature as an art form. He wished to be buried near Raphael in the Pantheon, and his wish was granted. Today his paintings hang in the Louvre, Museo del Prado, and Metropolitan Museum of Art.