bologna
Giulio Antonio Bonasone was an Italian painter and engraver born in Bologna. He possibly studied painting under Lorenzo Sabbatini, and painted a Purgatory for the church of San Stefano, but all his paintings have been lost. He is better known as an engraver and is believed to have trained with Marcantonio Raimondi. He worked mainly in Mantua, Rome and Venice and with great success, producing etchings and engravings after the old masters and his own designs.
He has been regarded an engraver with extraordinary skills in reproducing, as he could accurately convey the sources' compositions, colours, and essence. Moreover, he expressed his understanding about the controversies about religion and culture in his time through his prints. He is considered among the most important and productive engravers of the sixteenth century.
Agostino Carracci, an Italian painter and printmaker born in 1557 in Bologna, is celebrated not just for his own art but also for his significant contributions alongside his brother Annibale and cousin Ludovico to the revitalization of Italian painting at the end of the sixteenth century. While Agostino's paintings are noteworthy, he is particularly distinguished as one of the premier printmakers of his era, producing high-quality reproductive engravings of works by renowned artists like Veronese and Tintoretto, as well as his original creations.
His collaborative work with Annibale on the frescoes for the gallery of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome is one of the notable highlights of his career, demonstrating the Carracci family's impact on the direction of Italian art towards a more realistic and classical style, countering the prevalent Mannerist tendencies of their time. His untimely death in 1602 in Parma curtailed a career that, through his engravings and teachings at the informal academy founded in Bologna with his relatives, influenced a broad swath of the art world, including future generations.
For art collectors and experts, Agostino Carracci's works offer a glimpse into a pivotal moment in art history, where a shift towards classical realism was being forged. His engravings and paintings remain a testament to his skill and a vital part of the narrative of Italian art's evolution.
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Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, better known as Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous naturalism of his early manner contrasts with the classical equilibrium of his later works. His many drawings are noted for their luminosity and lively style.
