Self-Portrait
early 1580s
Here we see a young Annibale Carracci sketching himself with a scruffy beard and an intense, almost questioning gaze, all framed within a fancy, swirling oval border. The loose, scratchy lines give it a wonderful energy, showing us the artist's hand at work in the early 1580s before he became a superstar of the Baroque movement. That little printed label at the bottom reading 'Caracci' tells us this page was likely pasted into a collector's album of famous artists—a sort of Renaissance Instagram feed of portraits. It’s a humble but powerful self-portrait from a guy who would go on to revolutionize Italian art alongside his cousins.
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