Self-Portrait (Annibale Carracci)

Self-Portrait is a 1593 oil on canvas painting by Annibale Carracci, now in the Galleria Nazionale di Parma. It is dated 17 April 1593 on the top left of the canvas.

History
Based on the signed date of the painting, Carracci would have been 33 years old. That time was the period of his greatest artistic success: Carracci had just completed Storie della fondazione di Roma with his cousin Ludovico Carracci for the Palazzo Magnani in Bologna. Several years later in 1595, he moved to Rome. The reason for this self-portrait is unknown, whether Carracci completed it for himself or a person he cared about.

The painting entered the Galleria Nazionale di Parma after its acquisition by Margherita Dall'Aglio, widow of Bodoni, in December 1841. Quintavalle interpreted the written date of the portrait's completion as "4 di Aprile 1593." Later, that interpretation was corrected by art historian Posner as "17 di Aprile 1593."

The painting has always been titled as a self-portrait, based on oral tradition. As reported by Anna Ottavi Cavina, there are a number of 17th-century Carracci prints and drawings that depict his practice of self-portraiture.

Description
Annibale Carracci is depicted as a half bust, close-up, with a wide-brimmed felt hat and wearing a dark tabard. The composition is cropped to concentrate attention on his face: his short hair, intense gaze, and the confident expression emerge from a neutral background. Studies have compared this self-portrait with that of Annibale's brother Agostino Carracci, now at the Uffizi, and how their self-portraits show the different characters of the two artists. The Annibale's self-portrait is "contemptuous of all exterior decoration, with enough to go around ... not very clean ... with a coat messily wrapped", while the Agostino's depicts an intellectual with refined features, a musician, and a poet.