Monday, March 28, 2016

The Circle of the Carracci at the Ashmolean Museum

Giuseppe Macpherson
Posthumous Portrait of Agostino Carracci
18th century
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Agostino Carracci
Andromeda and the sea monster
ca. 1590-95
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

English aristocrats of the 19th century collecting Italian art of the 16th century tended to favor "optimistic" attributions. Sooner or later many of these collections were donated or sold to public museums. Curators and other scholars then began the process of undoing many of the hopeful attributions and reassigning works away from some famous name to "follower of" some famous name or "circle of" or "copy after."  At the Ashmolean Museum relatively few of the drawings and prints associated with the Carracci family are still assigned directly to its leading members, Agostino (1557-1602) or Annibale (1560-1609).        

style of Agostino Carracci
Study of a man's head
late 16th century
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

follower of Agostino Carracci
Studies
late 16th century
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Agostino Carracci
Cupid with the sword of Mars
late 16th century
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Agostino Carracci
Omnia vincit Amor
ca. 1590-95
engraving
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Giuseppe Macpherson
Posthumous Portrait of Annibale Carracci
18th century
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Annibale Carracci
Draped boy
late 16th century
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Annibale Carracci
Pastoral landscape
late 16th century
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

copy after Annibale Carracci
Diana & Callisto
drawing
late 16th century
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Annibale Carracci
Figure study, back view
late 16th century
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Annibale Carracci
Draped figure
late 16th century
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Lodovico Carracci
Figure study
late 16th century
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

attributed to Francesco Carracci
Statue among trees
17th century
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford