The Virgin and Child Resting Outside a City Gate
Formerly owned by the great French collectors Pierre Crozat and Pierre-Jean Mariette, this composition by Annibale Carracci reveals still the sweet-faced female types inspired by Correggio (c. 1489-1534) and emulated by his cousin Ludovico Carracci, as well as their interest in a treatment of light that pulsates with movement. A drawing probably to be dated in the early 1580's, the artist here worked up the figures in the foreground with deep tone and a fairly calligraphic use of haching. He suggested the buildings in the background with an atmospheric sketchiness that seems noteworthy also for the economy of its strokes. The Virgin sits on the ground in a position of humility. As has been suggested, Annibale's composition may have been based on an engraving of the Virgin in a Courtyard by the German artist Martin Schongauer (c. 1435/50-1491), in which Mary sits on the ground before walls that converge at right angles behind her.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Virgin and Child Resting Outside a City Gate
- Artist: Annibale Carracci (Italian, Bologna 1560–1609 Rome)
- Date: 1560–1609
- Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush with traces of brown wash, on light brown beige paper; traces of framing outlines in pen and brown ink
- Dimensions: sheet: 7 3/8 x 8 1/2 in. (18.8 x 21.6 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1972
- Object Number: 1972.137.2
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Annibale Carracci
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ca. 1591
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