Note su alcuni quadri carracceschi provenienti dalla collezione Farnese

The collection of paintings owned by the Farnese, dispersed since the eighteenth century, can be reconstructed through the study of such sources as the old inventories and Malvasia's biographies. The lists of works by the Carracci which the Bolognese historian provides are more reliable than has often been thought. A case in point is the Latona with the Lycian farmers, mentioned by Malvasia among Annibale's early works (fig. 1, 2). Among the Carraccesque paintings mentioned by Malvasia in the Farnese collection is the large Arcangel Gabriel, recently published by Bertini (fig. 4). The canvas entered the ducal collection in 1630 as part of the bequest of Gabriele Bombasi, who had been a member of Cardinal Odoardo's household in Rome. The bequest also contained four partial copies, attributed to Annibale, after Correggio's apse fresco in S. Giovanni in Parma; these are the copies now in Naples. One of the paintings decorating the 'Palazzetto Farnese' in Rome was a Rape of Europa, variously attributed by the inventories to Annibale or Agostino. The composition survives in a canvas (fig. 7) which may be the original. Agostino's authorship is established through the preparatory studies and through comparison with such paintings as the Landscape with bathers (fig. 13). A more recent example of the persistent confusion between Agostino and Annibale is a sheet of studies in the Cabinet des dessins in the Louvre (fig. 15, 17); these relate to Agostino's fresco Peleus and Thetis in the Palazzo del Giardino in Parma.van Tuyll Carel. Note su alcuni quadri carracceschi provenienti dalla collezione Farnese. In: Les Carrache et les décors profanes. Actes du colloque de Rome (2-4 octobre 1986) Rome : École Française de Rome, 1988. pp. 39-63. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 106