EVCS: Callum Reid ‘Annibale Carracci’s Holy Family at the National Gallery of Victoria’

Callum Reid

‘Annibale Carracci’s Holy Family at the National Gallery of Victoria’

Annibale CARRACCI, The Holy Family (c. 1589), oil on canvas, 69.9 x 61.0 cm, NGV International, Felton Bequest, 1971

This paper examines the little- studied Holy Family by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), which hangs in the National Gallery of Victoria, and discusses its style, iconography and position within the artist’s oeuvre. The subject of the ‘Holy Family’ was repeated several times during the artist’s transition from a Bolognese to a Roman style, and it provides a means of studying this development closely through a comparison between each painting: the constancy of theme and figures serves to highlight the critical changes in style. This paper presents the Melbourne Holy Family within the context of these smaller devotional works, considering both the social and personal transitions that they represent. It also brings to light new documents concerning the painting’s provenance and artistic reception.

Date: Monday 5th September, 2011, 6:30pm.

Venue: Rm 150, Elisabeth Murdoch Building, the University of Melbourne, Parkville.

All Welcome.

Drinks and nibbles provided (gold coin donation appreciated). The seminar will be followed by dinner in Lygon St. Please RSVP Mark Shepheard (shepm@unimelb.edu.au) if you plan to join us for dinner.

For a list of past papers click here.