Carracci Workshop, 17th Century, Annunciation

Carracci Workshop, 17th Century

Annunciation

Oil on copper, 42 x 34 cm

This small annunciation painted on copper should be placed alongside the production of the Emilian school of the 17th century. In fact, there are many examples of the great Emilian artists who use this object and render it through similar stylistic features, often translated starting from the painting of the Carracci brothers. The students of their Accademia degli Incamminati were numerous and obtained prestigious results both inside and outside the regional borders: among these we can mention among the most important Domenichino, Guido Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco, Francesco Albani and Guercino, who although not passing through the Academy studied side by side with one of the members of the Carracci family. In this Annunciation we find clear references to Annibale's painting, as in the little angels and the putti in the upper right which are identical to that of the work of the same subject now preserved in the Louvre. The rest of the composition takes up the poses and the general layout of the figures, although the tones are more ashen as the flesh tones and the background does not open onto the external landscape; however, the predominance of gray clouds allows us to better highlight the luminous contrasts of the draperies that stand out, especially if we observe the blue and red of the Virgin's clothes, for the bright and vivid colors. The same setting is found in the paintings of the same subject made by the members of the Academy, who then developed their own particular stylistic features but which can easily be traced back to a common classicist vein, the result of the teachings of the three brothers.