Studio of Annibale Carracci (Bologna 1560-1609 Rome) Head study of a youth in profile framed: 55...

Studio of Annibale Carracci (Bologna 1560-1609 Rome) Head study of a youth in profile oil on inscribed paper, laid down on canvas 40.5 x 28.2cm (15 15/16 x 11 1/8in). framed: 55.1 x 42.5cm Footnotes: Provenance The Collection of Dr. Alfred Bader, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1970s Private Collection, UK While scholarship is divided about which ones of a group of oil sketches on paper, like the present study, were executed by Annibale Carracci himself, or by other members of his studio, it is particularly interesting to note that this sketch was executed on paper recycled from a ledger or account book of some kind, as is the case with a number of others from this group. The present sketch is characteristic of the free and informal studies that reflected Annibale's groundbreaking approach. His experimental and naturalistic style was both simple and direct, which contrasted markedly with the formulaic methods of his Mannerist contemporaries. This technique was founded on the practice of Annibale, alongside his brother, Agostino and their cousin Ludovico, who established an Academy in their Bologna studio which focused on drawing from live models as a preliminary for their finished compositions. In certain instances, as we find here, this exploratory experimentation involved a further, intermediary stage of sketching in oil. In his study of Annibale's working methods, Donald Posner suggested that Annibale learned his technique of sketching in oil on paper from Venetian painters prior to his return to Bologna in 1588 (D. Posner, Annibale Carracci: A Study in the Reform of Italian Painting around 1590, London, 1971, p. 25). Since Posner identified the Portrait of a bearded man (formerly with Luca Baroni Ltd. and now in a private collection), a number of other head studies, all executed in oil on paper but of varying quality, have come to light, including a group of six portraits of blind men and women, which have been attributed both to Annibale and to his workshop. Daniele Benati has dated most of the sketches to the first half of the 1580s; while Aidan Weston-Lewis has suggested an even earlier date. Although it seems likely that a great number of such sketches were made at the time, few have survived. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing