PAINTING. 103 
length, furnished with profound artistic knowledge, he began his glorious 
career in Bologna. He had two cousins, Agostino (b. 1557, d. 1602) and 
Annibale (b. 1560, d. 1609), who likewise devoted themselves to painting, 
the former studying with Fontana, the latter with Ludovico. The two 
brothers lived in a constant state of alienation, and their mutual interests as 
artists and as men could not induce them to behave in a friendly manner 
towards each other. Agostino was noble and talented, and pursued all his 
scientific studies with much success; but Annibale, whom his father had 
destined to be a tailor, and who scarcely knew how to read and write, 
constantly ridiculed his brother’s learning, as the means of dissipating his 
powers. Agostino in consequence, who saw with what gigantic strides his 
brother was advanced in the art of painting, determined to renounce it, 
and applied himself successfully to copperplate engraving. About the 
same time Annibale exhibited his first works, consisting of two altar- 
pieces, a Crucifixion and a Baptism of Christ ; but as these were simply, 
nobly, and naturally executed, they were attacked on all sides, so that the 
painter’s only present reward was the hope of seeing the right ultimately 
triumph. Ludovico and Annibale pursued with the greatest ardor the 
path they had struck out, and Agostino likewise again took up painting. 
About the year 1580 Annibale went to Parma, and then to Venice; and 
after his return the three Caraccis painted together several friezes in the 
Fava palace, representing the Exploits of Jason, and Ludovico alone painted 
in a hallthe History of Aineas. 
In spite of all opposition the three artists quietly pursued the course 
which they had decided to be the only correct one, and at length they 
founded a school of painting in which the study of the nude figure and of 
the antique was pursued with great zeal, and where Agostino lectured on 
the theoretical branches, architecture, perspective, anatomy, &c. From 
this time forward the reputation of the Caraccis kept spreading more and 
more. Ludovico had already distinguished himself by several large works, 
Agostino shone as an engraver, and Annibale by his paintings, which 
excited universal admiration. The Caraccis, after having studied the works 
of the greatest masters, formed a manner of their own, in which the 
character of one or the other master served as a pattern, and they always 
chose with great judgment that which was most suitable. Accordingly 
when the nature of the subject required it, they produced by their mode 
of treatment a mixture of the styles of Primaticcio, Tintoretto, Tibaldi, &e. 
In the convent of the Carthusians in Bologna Agostino painted his 
admirable work, the Communion of St. Jerome, a production which excited 
universal attention and which is now in Paris. The fame of the skill of the 
Caraccis now spread more and more, and many commissions were conse- 
quently given, not to any one of them but to all of them together. Thus 
the grand paintings in the Magnani palace are to be regarded as the work 
of the Caraccis, and chiefly of Ludovico and Agostino. Two ceiling-pieces 
are here celebrated, one representing Galathea as the symbol of Water, 
painted by Ludovico, and the other Pluto as the symbol of Fire, a work of 
Agostino. We have given a sketch of the former in pl. 15, fig. 12, and of 
: 487 
