Saint Anthony the Abbot Preaching to the Hermits

Ludovico Carracci

Download hi-res image TITLE Saint Anthony the Abbot Preaching to the Hermits
AUTHOR Ludovico Carracci
DATE 1615
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Oil on canvas
DIMENSIONS cm 320 x 210
INVENTORY 122
ROOM XXVIII
Work on display

This painting’s almost excessive emotional charge, clearly visible in the peasant faces and gnarled feet of the figures in the foreground, together with the ruins, stark against the blue sky, the palm tree framing the composition, the strong chiaroscuro and the exceptionally free bruswork, all combine to make it emblematic of Ludovico’s painting, which was on the verge of being supplanted by Guido Reni’s scholarly classicism even in Bologna.