The Reception of Annibale Carracci’s Drawings in Britain: A Study of the Sources, Collectors, Market and Taste

This book examines the critical reception of the drawings by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) in Britain, arguing that they played a formative yet underappreciated role in the construction of his artistic legacy. By tracing the formation and dispersal of major British collections from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, the study reconstructs the collecting practices and critical responses that determined the fate of Annibale’s graphic oeuvre. These developments are situated within the broader evolution of British taste and graphic connoisseurship: from the early influx of Carracci drawings in the eighteenth century, through the nineteenthcentury critiques of Carracci academicism voiced by Henry Fuseli and John Ruskin, to their lasting repercussions in the modern art market. Through the analysis of pivotal figures such as Padre Sebastiano Resta and Jonathan Richardson, and of major collections including those at Chatsworth and Christ Church, Oxford, the book demonstrates how British collectors, artists and critics shaped a distinctive interpretation of Annibale’s work. It charts shifting aesthetic priorities — from admiration for disciplined invention and academic design to a growing preference for naturalism, landscape and caricature — revealing how Annibale’s reputation was continually renegotiated in response to changing values. Placed within a broader historiographical framework, the study also highlights persistent gaps in scholarship, including the absence of a catalogue raisonné of his drawings. Drawing on literary sources, museum and exhibition catalogues, and auction records, this book focuses primarily on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while also addressing modern developments in scholarship and the art market. The British case, marked by a strong tradition of private collecting, emerges as a crucial lens through which to reassess Annibale’s drawings. Ultimately, their reception becomes a touchstone for wider shifts in taste, connoisseurship and the valuation of artistic originality, illuminating both Annibale’s contested legacy and the central role of collecting in Britain’s engagement with Italian art.