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| Annibale Carracci Study of lute player Giulio Mascherone before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Annibale Carracci Decorative mask motifs before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
"With Ludovico's consent and advice, Agostino and Annibale founded and opened an academy in his rooms like all the other academies recently established, which drew such a crowd and grew so immediately and greatly that the reputation of every other academy, including Baldi's, known as la Indifferente, was quickly extinguished. Such was its standing that even men of letters would refer to it when controversies and perplexities arose over the issue of the guiding principles of the visual arts. . . . The combination of Ludovico's learned foundation in art, Agostino's labors, and Annibale's passionate involvement in what the academy offered for the public good had an almost magical appeal and attracted people in large numbers. Here everyone studied day and night, without regard for pain or discomfort. Here there was never a lack of the best bodies, whether male or female, to serve as muscular and well-proportioned models."
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| Annibale Carracci Study of oarsman before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| attributed to Annibale Carracci Four studies of Cardinal Camillo Borghese (later Pope Paul V) before 1605 drawing British Museum |
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| Annibale Carracci Study of man walking before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Annibale Carracci Study of walking man in landscape before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
"Because Agostino on occasion would express doubts about their working methods and approach, difficult artistic problems would be debated, and after much argument, which stimulated and exercised their minds, Ludovico would finally be turned to as the oracle, whose answers and judgment were heard and venerated as if they were decisions of the Sacra Rota. . . . The Carracci made a practice of posing as models for one another; Agostino prided himself in being able to adapt the exact poses and attitudes desired by Ludovico, for he believed that anyone who did not understand these poses would not know how to represent them well and that this was why the poses of the professional models were artificial and lifeless. Nor did Ludovico, who was rather plump and fleshy, deem it beneath him to strip to the waist and have his back copied by Annibale in the attitude needed for the Venus in the picture that the Bolognetti later sold to their Serene Highnesses of Florence and that can be found today among the other famous pictures in the royal museum."
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| Annibale Carracci Studies for frames before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Annibale Carracci Study of Venus and Cupid before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Annibale Carracci Study for draped figures before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Annibale Carracci Study for Ulysses and the Sirens ca. 1596-98 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
"It was a custom of theirs that when one of them had finished a picture, the other two would leave the room, and pretending they were visitors from out of town, would knock on the door and beg to be allowed to see some work by the painter. Then, on being let in and very graciously received, they would be shown the very work that had just been completed, and would also be asked for comments and advice about it, whereupon they would set to with criticisms and objections, which often resulted in fierce battles in which, if the author of the work won the argument by presenting a convincing defense of the particular form under attack, the other two would admit defeat and leave, but if he failed to do so, he would be expected to take up his paintbrush then and there and correct in their presence, or, ceding to their authority, let them be the ones to make the correction or deletion in their own hand."
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| Annibale Carracci Study for a small altarpiece before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Annibale Carracci Sheet of sketches before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| Annibale Carracci Study of goats for Ariadne's car before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
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| attributed to Annibale Carracci Bacchic figure before 1605 drawing Royal Collection, Windsor |
"Certain hours were set aside for the study of theoretical questions, perspective, and architecture, all of which Agostino was especially adept at demonstrating in condensed form in a small number of maxims, as can be seen in some of the writings by him that I have in my possession. And when, because of weariness or the late hour, they finally left off working and took a stroll through the city or went outside the city gate for some fresh air, their favorite and fruitful pastime was to take note of especially unusual sites, or delightful landscapes, or chance encounters with people, making caricatures of the defects they observed in them."
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| Annibale Carracci Caricatures before 1605 drawing British Museum |
– from Malvasia's Life of the Carracci (1678), translated and edited by Anne Summerscale (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000)