AGOSTINO CARRACCI
1557-1602
12 Sheet of Studies
Pen and brown ink; H: 40.5 cm (i5I5/i6 in.); W: 30.8 cm
(iiVsin.)
86.GA.y2 6
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left, collection
mark of Sir Thomas Lawrence (L. 2445); inscribed
An.C. in graphite; at bottom center and right, collection
mark of marquis de Lagoy (L. 1710); at bottom right,
collection mark of Lord Francis Egerton, first earl of
Ellesmere (L. 27iob).
PROVENANCE: Marquis de Lagoy, Aix-en-Provence;
Thomas Dimsdale, London; Sir Thomas Lawrence,
London; Lord Francis Egerton, first earl of Ellesmere,
London; by descent to the sixth duke of Sutherland, Lon-
don (sale, Sotheby's, London, July n, 1972, lot 32);John
R. Gaines, Lexington, Kentucky (sale, Sotheby's, New
York, November 17, 1986, lot 12).
EXHIBITIONS: The Lawrence Gallery, Sixth Exhibition,
Woodburn's Gallery, London, 1836, no. 87; Drawings by
Old Masters, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1953, no.
159; The Ellesmere Collection of Old Master Draw ings, Mu-
seum and Art Gallery, Leicester, 1954, no. 35 (catalogue
by P. A. Tomory); Drawings by the Carracci and Other Mas-
ters, P. and D. Colnaghi, London, January-February
1955, no. 36; Mostra dei Carracci: Disegni, Palazzo
dellArchiginnasio, Bologna, September-October 1956,
no. 71 (catalogue by D. Mahon); The Carracci: Drawings
and Paintings, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne,
November-December 1961, no. 30 (catalogue by R.
Holland); Bolognese Drawings in North American Collec-
tions 1500-1800, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa,
1982, no. 22 (catalogue by M. Cazort and C.Johnston).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Bodmer, "Drawings by the Car-
racci: An Aesthetic Analysis," Old Master Drawings 8
(March 1934), pp. 65-66; R. Wittkower, The Drawings
of the Carracci in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at
Windsor Castle (London, 1952), pp. no, under no. 89;
121, under no. 157; A. Blunt, Supplements to the Catalogues
of Italian and French Drawings with a History of the Royal
Collection of Drawings (London, 1971), p. 60; D. Posner,
Annibale Carracci: A Study in the Reform of Italian Painting
around 1590 (London, 1971), vols. i, p. 66; 2, p. 47, under
no. 108; H. Brigstocke, Italian and Spanish Paintings in the
National Gallery of Scotland (Glasgow, 1978), pp. 40; 42,
n. 13, under no. 2313; D. DeGrazia Bohlin, Prints and Re-
lated Drawings by the Carracci Family, exh. cat. (National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979), pp. 470-72,
under no. 22; 474, n. 7; Ansichten menschlicher Kopfen,
exh. cat. (Thomas Le Claire Kunsthandel, Hamburg,
1989), p. 6, under no. i.
THIS COMPLEX SHEET WAS FIRST ATTRIBUTED TO
Agostino by Bodmer (1934). The principal motif was re-
lated by Wittkower (1952) to a lost painting, the Adoration
of the Shepherds, by Annibale Carracci, known through a
copy by Domenichino in the National Gallery of Scot-
land, Edinburgh. It was assumed by Wittkower and oth-
ers that the drawing followed the painting, but DeGrazia
(Bohlin 1979) demonstrated conclusively that in this case
(as in several others) Annibale based his design on Agos-
tino ancl was using a drawing of circa 1598 -160 0 (Mahon
1956 ) as the inspiration for his painting.
The remaining details have been less carefully stud-
ied. The three heads shown in profile at the top right are
seemingly specific individuals rather than types, though
their identity is elusive. The nearest one reappears in car-
icatured form along the right margin, where he takes on
a "foxy" appearance (Posner 1971, p. 66), suitably fol-
lowed by the representation of a starkly expressive fox at
the bottom right corner. Several other drawings with
representations of the same man are listed by Wittkower
(1952, under no. 157) and Cazort and Johnston (1982).
The other animal studies on this sheet lack exaggerated
expressions.44 ITALIAN SCHOOL • CARRACCI