Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci

Details

When:

Where: The Hampton Inn

Cost: $175.00 for 5 session(s)

Type: In Person

Category:

• Art History
• Humanities Courses

Instructor: Kevin Justus wears dual career hats, being a musician and an art historian.
Kevin Justus

The Heart and Mind of Early Baroque

The world exalts Caravaggio for his dramatic light and intense naturalism whereas Annibale Carracci is little known, for his ideal beauty and energized classicism. Why has one become a towering figure of the Western Canon and the other only appreciated by students and specialists of the Italian Baroque? These two contemporaries approached the reform of painting at the end of the Sixteenth Century from entirely different directions. Discover how the intensity of Caravaggio and the sensuality of Annibale Carracci converged to create and influence all the glories and excesses of the Baroque and discuss how their works remain powerful and relevant today.

Week 1: The Italy of the Counter Reformation and the need for Reform – The Rome of the late Sixteenth Century. What is old is new again. The Bolognese Academy of Painting of Annibale Carracci and the early Career of Caravaggio.

Week 2: The Early Baroque in Rome – Caravaggio in the circle of Cardinal Francesco Maroia Del Monte and the erotics of Faith. The Saint Matthew Cycle in the Contarelli Chapel for the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi.

Week 3: Annibale Carracci and the Palazzo Farnese – Glorious Classicism and Wondrous Sensualism. The establishment of Baroque Ceiling Painting and the desire for Fame….but with a sense of humor.

Week 4: Rome in 1601 – Drama, drama, and more drama. Annibale and Caravaggio collaborate to create the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo. The establishment of an artistic tradition.

Week 5: When Titans Fall – The late careers of Carracci and Caravaggio, still brilliant but falling into melancholia and violence. The profound influence of Annibale and Caravaggio on younger artists and formation of the Baroque ideal.