1555 -1619 · Bologna and reform of Italian painting

Nature, sacred emotion and monumental clarity make Ludovico Carracci one of the founders of the Bolognese revival around 1600.

Ludovico Carracci was born in Bologna in 1555 and worked there almost all his life. With his cousins Agostino and Annibale, he founded an academy where the study from nature, drawing and observation of the great masters replaced mannerist recipes. His role is essential in the formation of a new Bolognese painting: clear compositions, credible gestures, expressive light and directly accessible religious emotion. The collective settings of the Fava, Magnani and Sampieri palaces demonstrate the ambition of the Carracci workshop, capable of uniting monumental story and truth of the figures. Ludovico, however, retains a personal, more serious and meditative voice. In the Annunciation, the event sacred takes the form of an intimate encounter regulated by light. The Assumption of the Virgin organizes the elevation around a powerful ascending movement. His musical angels, his depositions and his scenes of devotion seek less abstract elegance than the emotional participation of the spectator. When Annibale and Agostino left Bologna, Ludovico directed the academy and transmitted this language to an entire generation, from Guido Reni to Guercino. Died in 1619, he remained the teacher and discreet inventor of a reform which prepared the baroque. When Annibale and Agostino left Bologna, Ludovico directed the academy and transmitted this language to an entire generation, from Guido Reni to Guercino. Died in 1619, he remained the teacher and discreet inventor of a reform which prepared the baroque. When Annibale and Agostino left Bologna, Ludovico directed the academy and transmitted this language to an entire generation, from Guido Reni to Guercino. Died in 1619, he remained the teacher and discreet inventor of a reform which prepared the baroque. When Annibale and Agostino left Bologna, Ludovico directed the academy and transmitted this language to an entire generation, from Gu

Ludovico brings the sacred close without diminishing it: human gesture opens the way to light and grace.