Open Collections

Pourghanad, Samira

University of British Columbia

This thesis examines the landscape paintings produced by Italian artist Annibale Carracci in the early 1600s for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini’s private chapel in Rome, the Palazzo al Corso (now, the Palazzo Doria Pamphili). Cardinal Pietro commissioned Annibale to complete a series of paintings depicting the life of the Virgin Mary for the lunette compartments in his chapel. Through application of the various ecocritical perspectives that acknowledge the intrinsic value of nature, I argue that these paintings give primacy to the landscape elements in biblical narratives, thus decentring humans from their perceived positions of importance. In doing so, Annibale’s paintings for the Aldobrandini Chapel both challenge the standards of chapel art and invert the long-standing expectations of human beings. I will analyze Annibale’s subversion of chapel conventions by way of a comparison to another artist who challenged chapel art during the same period in Rome: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Specifically, I will discuss the paintings produced by Caravaggio for the Contarelli Chapel, a public chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi. In drawing a comparison between Annibale’s Aldobrandini lunettes and Caravaggio’s paintings produced for the Contarelli Chapel, I will suggest that each artist engages with biblical narratives through opposing viewpoints: Annibale’s is ecocentric, while Caravaggio’s is highly anthropocentric. Thus, I posit that in certain respects, Annibale’s lunettes may be viewed as the antithesis to Caravaggio’s Contarelli paintings. My study approaches these paintings through a formalistic investigation, that is, I will pay close attention to the colour, content, and other compositional elements in the works. At the same time, I will consider the biographical and historical context in which these paintings were produced. In other words, while I am speculating regarding the ecocritical content in Annibale’s paintings, I remain observant of the concrete circumstances surrounding the design and completion of these paintings. As my study will indicate, there are several factors at play which signal that these paintings were intended to have a profound connection to the natural landscape.

Text

2024-08-29

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89087

Art History & Theory

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/