Landscape with River Bank n.d.

Annibale Carracci made this drawing, Landscape with River Bank, with pen and brown ink. Carracci was working in Italy at a time when the institutions that governed art making were undergoing transformation. Here, we can see the artist turning away from the heavily allegorical or religious scenes that were popular, in favor of depicting a naturalistic landscape. In doing so, he offers a vision of the natural world as it is, rather than how it is perceived through the lens of myth or dogma. This shift reflects a broader transformation of the period in which art increasingly became about observation of nature and human psychology, a transformation that continues to influence the arts to this day. To more fully appreciate this work, we can turn to the archives of the art academies that promoted certain styles and suppressed others. By looking at the social and institutional contexts in which art is made, we gain a better understanding of its historical meaning.