ANNIBALE CARRACCI

Description

The landscape drawings of Annibale Carracci played an important role in the evolution of drawn landscape in the late sixteenth century. The artist saw nature as a real and alive and sought to give it a heroic and sublime dimension in his drawings. Trees, leaves, bodies of water, and hills were depicted with power and vivacity. His landscapes also testify to the artist’s attachment to the organization of space, to the choice of a relevant framing that places the viewer front and center, making him the witness to a dynamic scene. The present drawing is a brilliant illustration of Annibale Carracci’s style. The brown ink is applied with intense, parallel, hatched strokes of the pen. This technique, reminiscent of Titian and Domenico Campagnola, lends dramatic power to the imposing rock. The fluid, effortless, and precise line, the manner of generating a sense of agitation, where the wind and the movement of the figures were translated in a few strokes, are characteristic of Annibale’s style.