'The reality effect': the figure seen from behind in Carracci's art

Authors

  • Luca Esposito Sapienza - University of Rome

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/acta.9025

Keywords:

body in art, San Michele in Bosco (Monastery : Bologna: Italy), Palazzo Fava (Bologna: Italy), reality effect, naturalism in painting, painting Renaissance

Abstract

This article focuses on Carracci's frequent use of the figure seen from behind in their graphic and pictorial oeuvre (i.e., in the frescoes in Palazzo Fava, in the Cloister of San Michele in Bosco by Ludovico, in the series of the body in art by Annibale, and the engravings Ogni cosa vince l'oro by Agostino). It claims that the figure seen from behind plays a rhetorical function instrumental to the Carracci's search for a new form of naturalism in painting. In particular it creates a 'reality effect' that enhances the naturalistic rendering of the pictorial composition.

 

On cover:
ANNIBALE CARRACCI (BOLOGNA 1560 - ROME 1609), An Allegory of Truth and Time c. 1584-1585.
Oil on canvas | 130,0 x 169,6 cm. (support, canvas/panel/str external) | RCIN 404770
Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021.

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Published

2021-09-13

How to Cite

Esposito, L. . (2021) “’The reality effect’: the figure seen from behind in Carracci’s art”, Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia, 32(18 N.S.), pp. 9–28. doi: 10.5617/acta.9025.

Issue

Section

Articles