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| CARACCI, Agostino |
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CARRACCI, or CARACCI, Agostino, Italian artist born in Bologna, Aug. 15, 1557 and died in Parma, March 22, 1602. One of a family of artists who founded the Bolognese or Eclectic school of painting, he was a brother of Annibale Carracci, and was also a cousin of Lodovico Carracci, under whose guidance he studied art. He studied painting under Prospero Fontana and engraving with Domenico Tibaldi and Correlis Cort. He attained great mastery in engraving, and engraved more pieces than he painted, in order, it is said, to please his brother Annibale, who became envious of his fame after one of Agostino's works had obtained a prize in preference to one of his own.
In 1600 Agostino accompanied Annibale to Rome, and assisted him in designing
and painting the Farnesian Gallery. He painted the two principal features of
the long walls, the Triumph of Galatea and the Rape of Cephalus. As many persons
said that the engraver worked better than the painter, Annibale removed his
brother, under the pretext that his style, though elegant, was not grand enough.
Agostino went then to the court of the duke of Parma, and painted a work representing
the heavenly, the earthly and the venal love. There was only one figure wanting
when, exhausted by labor and mortification, he retired to a Capuchin monastery
where he died. He wrote a treatise on perspective and architecture. As an engraver
he deserves great praise, and often corrected the imperfect outlines of his
originals. He left behind 278 plates, a large number of which are original.