Opziende kop van een triton 1595 - 1609

Annibale Carracci made this chalk drawing of the upturned head of a triton in Italy sometime in the late 16th century. The image evokes classical antiquity, a time which experienced a great revival in European art and thought. But antiquity, as contemporaries like Carracci knew it, was largely filtered through artistic and literary institutions. The revival of interest in the art of ancient Greece and Rome was driven by wealthy patrons such as the Catholic Church, and the images they commissioned served specific ideological purposes. Carracci’s drawing, with its mythological subject matter, demonstrates an effort to recover the artistic standards of the classical world. Yet it's also worth remembering that this was a strategic project with implications for the social role of art, as well as the status of the artists themselves. By consulting historical sources, we can learn more about the ways that artists both reflected and shaped the culture of their time.