Annibale Carracci

The other day I went with a friend to an exhibit featuring the Baroque painter Annibale Carracci. For now, the exhibit is located in a Renaissance cloister connected to the church of Santa Maria della Pace. The church itself has an interesting story of its own, but that’s for another post. Carracci’s paintings reminded me, once again, just why I love Baroque art. Its dramatic emphasis on creation is so refreshing. The infusion of tense drama and stirring movements remind me of the theological reality of divine grace’s infusion in the material world...and it’s clear that was the point of the movement. Carracci’s sacred artwork depicts Christ’s humanity so boldly that, ultimately, it serves to highlight the transcendent bond between God and man. Many of his paintings depict Christ in the arms of his mother, either as a newborn child or cradled in the same maternal arms as the perfect Sacrifice, just removed from the cross. The expressive, sacred art found in the Baroque period is a powerful, and thoroughly enjoyable, lesson in theology and human anthropology. It can serve to remind us of our own vulnerable condition and elevated dignity as a persons created in the image of God.

Afterward, we stopped in a café that is connected to the same building, just a few steps from the gallery’s exit. The café is situated inside a brilliant courtyard designed by the Renaissance virtuoso Bramante between 1500 and 1504. Often passed over by the hordes of tourists, this architectural gem is a perfectly proportioned cloister and embodies the Renaissance ideals of elegance, simplicity and proportion.