A revolt against the methods of the “Mannerists” was made by the
Carracci when they opened their school of art at Bologna in 1589.
These “Eclectics” (“Pickers and Choosers”) advocated a careful study
of “the drawing of Rome, the Venetian shadow, the terrific force
of Michelangelo’s manner, the natural truth of Titian, the pure
and sovereign style of Correggio, the true symmetry of Raphael,
the dignity and principle of Tibaldi, the invention of the learned
Primaticcio, together with a little of the grace of Parmigianino”! It
is not surprising that they in their turn soon sank into mere academic
mediocrity.
The Louvre is notoriously rich in representative examples of the
“Eclectic” painters’ art. The name of Lodovico Carracci (1555-1619),
the founder of this school at Bologna, is included in the official
Catalogue, but neither of his two pictures is at present exhibited.
Lodovico had as cousins, Agostino (1557?-1602) and Annibale
(1560?-1609), who also worked in Rome. Six of Annibale Carracci’s
fifteen pictures in this collection are now exhibited. The _Madonna of
the Cherries_ (No. 1217) and the _Sleeping Child Jesus_ (No. 1218) are
characteristic, while his huge canvas of _The Virgin appearing to St.
Luke and St. Catherine_ (No. 1219) in every way exemplifies the art of
this painter and his school. It is inscribed: