The exhibition paying tribute to the drawings by painter Ludovico Carracci is part of a programme of events dedicated to Italian culture organized by the Louvre museum. The event is curated by Catherine Loisel, chief curator in the Louvre's Department of Graphic Arts, to which the collection belongs. Ludovico Carracci was the eldest of the three Carracci cousins, and is often overshadowed by the better-known Annibale and Agostino. Born in 1555 in Bologna into a humble family, Ludovico trained in Florence in the atelier of Federico Zuccaro. He began painting under the guidance of the master, later moving between various Italian cities of artistic excellence: Venice, Mantua and Parma.
In the early 1590s, together with his cousins Annibale and Agostino, he founded an academy originally named Accademia dei Desiderosi, and later renamed Accademia degli Incamminati. It was essentially a place where young painters could work alongside masters and gain a solid education and artistic grounding, including the study of literature and science. The school was to have a profound influence on painting in Emilia, imposing an innovative approach that strived to overcome the affectations of the Mannerist movement. This teaching Academy was to produce all the great Emilian painters of the first half of the 17th century, from Guido Reni and Francesco Albani to Domenichino and Guercino.
The personality of Ludovico Carracci, very different to that of his cousins, is expressed in the strong identifying traits of his works. He pursued simplicity and clarity in order to provide a naturalistic representation of holy images: the aim of his paintings was to arouse religious devotion and dedication in the beholder. In this sense, the humanity and sentimentalism reached by the painter in his holy images is often unparalleled. Technically, Ludovico sought to render volume and depth by skilfull use of atmospheric effects of shadow and light.
The Paris exhibition gives visitors the opportunity to admire Carracci's preparatory drawings and studies. Through numerous drawings belonging to the Musée du Louvre, visitors can admire the characteristics of works in progress. Among those works on show are preparatory sketches for Saint Francis kneeling before the cross, for the altarpiece of the Bargellini chapel in Bologna, and for "Saint Sebastian thrown into the Cloaca Massima".