Carlo Saraceni Article Index for
Carlo
Website Links For
Carlo
 

Information About

Carlo Saraceni




Carlo Saraceni ( Venice c. 1570 -Venice, 16 June 1620 ) was an Italian painter. Though he was born in Venice , his paintings are distinctly Roman in style; he moved to Rome in 1598 , joining the Accademia Di San Luca in 1607 . He never visited France , though he spoke fluent French and had French followers and a French wardrobe. His painting, however, was influenced at first by the densely forested landscape settings for human figures of Elsheimer 's small paintings on copper panels, a format Saraceni employed in six landscape panels illustrating ''The Flight of Icarus '' in the Museo Di Capodimonte , Naples, in ''Moses and the Daughters of Jethro'' from Benedict Nicolson's collection, now at the National Gallery, London and in the ''Mars and Venus'' in the Museo de Arte Saõ Paulo [http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/s/p-saracen2.htm .

When Caravaggio's notorious ''Death of the Virgin'' (now at the Louvre ), was rejected in 1606 by the church of Santa Maria della Scala, it was Saraceni who provided the acceptable substitute, which remains ''in situ''. He was influenced by Caravaggio 's dramatic lighting, naturalistic detail, and momentary action (''illustration, right''), so that he is numbered among the first of the " Tenebrists " or " Caravaggisti ". His distinctly Caravaggesque candlelit ''Judith and the Head of Holophernes'' is at the Dayton Art Institute {Link without Title}

Saraceni's matured rapidly between 1606 and 1610. His fully mature career is confined to the decade after 1610. In 1616–17 he collaborated on the frescoes for the Sala Regia in the Palazzo Quirinale , Rome. In 1618 he received payment for two paintings in the church of S. Maria dell' Anima. Compositional details of his fresco of ''The Birth of the Virgin'' in the Chapel of the Annunciation, S. Maria Aquiro are repeated in a panel on copper at the Louvre {Link without Title}

In 1620 he returned to Venice, where he died in the same year.


WORKS

  • ''Rest on the Flight into Egypt'', 1606 (Eremo dei Camaldoli, Frascati )

  • ''Madonna and Child with Saint Anne'' painted for the Church of San Simeone Profeta, 1610 (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome)

  • ''Papal Authority'' (J. Paul Getty Museum) Chalk preparatory sketch for an allegorical fresco {Link without Title} .

  • ''Vision of Saint Francis'' Alte Pinakothek, Munich

  • ''Angel and Saint Cecilia'' (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome) Attributed to Saraceni {Link without Title}

  • ''Nativity'' (Residenzgalerie, Salzburg)


Work by Saraceni can also be seen in the Roman church of San Lorenzo in Lucina.


REFERENCES

  • Web Gallery of Art: Carlo Saraceni

  • Charles Dempsey, Keith Christiansen, Richard E. Spear, and Erich Scheier. 1985. ''The Age of Caravaggio''. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)