By Anne Leader
Agostino Carracci, older brother of Annibale and cousin of Lodovico, was born on 15 August 1557 in Bologna. Agostino worked as a painter and printmaker, and his engravings, like his Omnia vincit Amor (1599), were celebrated as among the best of his day. Like Lodovico, his first training was in the workshop of Prospero Fontana. He may have later moved to work with the engraver-architect Domenico Tibaldi and the sculptor Alessandro Menganti. He has also been connected to Bartolomeo Passarotti. Though an able painter, his career was primarily focused on engraving, which was highly profitable for him. Like the other Carracci, Agostino traveled to Rome, as well as Cremona, Venice, and Parma, where he was buried in the city’s cathedral in 1602.
Reference: C. van Tuyll van Serooskerken, et al. “Carracci.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Omnia vincit Amor, 1599, engraving, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Last Communion of St. Jerome, 1592, oil on canvas, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna
Self-portrait, 1590s, oil on canvas, Museum of King Jan III, Wilanów
Portrait of a Woman, 1597-99, red chalk over traces of black chalk, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York