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The invention of Annibale Carracci

This is a monographic study of the career of Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), one of the crucial artists in the development of the Baroque style. Arguably he was far more influential than Caravaggio in the creation of a style of art, which was a fundamental reference point for artists until the mid nineteenth-century, although his work is generally less well-known than that of his notorious younger contemporary. Based partly on archival work and on an extensive study of his preparatory drawings, it examines, via the sixteenth-century concept of invenzione (invention/creativity), the numerous problems surrounding this artist, including his artistic education, his patrons and the interpretation of his major works, notably the Farnese Gallery in Rome. By focusing on the context and culture in which Annibale was working, it offers a more nuanced picture of a highly inventive artist. The book has been described as “what will surely remain the most important study in English on Annibale Carracci for many years” (B. Bohn, Renaissance Quarterly, 62, 2009, 1288-90), and was awarded the international Salimbeni Prize for the best book on Italian art history and criticism from paleo-christian times to the nineteenth century in 2010.