The Carracci Cartoons: Myths in the Making

At nearly four metres wide and two metres tall, the Carracci cartoons (c. 1599) – drawn by Agostino Carracci and his younger brother Annibale in preparation for painting the gallery ceiling of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome – don’t enjoy many outings. Rendered in charcoal and white chalk on blue-grey paper, the works are extremely delicate and therefore difficult to display. But the National Gallery in London, which has held the works since 1837, evidently deems its 200th birthday reason enough to give the cartoons an outing (10 April–6 July). As the museum wraps up a year of bicentenary celebrations, which began last May, it is displaying the works in Room 1, which has been closed since December while a rehang takes place. Bearing the influence of Michelangelo and Raphael but with a stormy drama all of their own, the Carraccis’ depictions of the passions of the gods – full of furious waves, tempestuous divinities and mischievous putti – can now be appreciated by the public.

Find out more from the National Gallery’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary

A Woman Borne off by a Sea God (?) (c. 1599), Agostino Carracci. National Gallery, London

Cephalus Carried off by Aurora in her Chariot (c. 1599), Agostino Carracci. National Gallery, London