Annibale Carracci
, Italian, 1560-1609
Title
Portrait of a ManDate1590s
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
46.5 x 39.4 cm
Credit LinePresented, Sir Hugh Lane, 1914
Object numberNGI.673
DescriptionDuring the early years of his career, portraiture was one of Annibale's favourite artistic activities. Later, he could rarely indulge in these relaxing exercises as he was too preoccupied with satisfying his patrons' taste for decorating palaces and churches with ambitious schemes.A sharp observer of the human figure, Annibale was also a pungent caricaturist. This is not the case with the present portrait, however which appears instead to have been painted from life with rapid touches of the brush. The sitter is unknown, but his features reveal a proud man with a penetrating look.
The portrait was probably painted during the last decade of the century, in Bologna, before Annibale left to work in Rome for Cardinal Odoardo Farnese. Annibale's approach to naturalism was one of the innovations promoted at the art academy, called Accademia degli Incamminati, which he founded in Bologna with his brother Agostino and his cousin Ludovico.
(National Gallery of Ireland: Essential Guide, 2008)
ProvenancePresented, Sir Hugh Lane, 1914Exhibition HistoryCentenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964