Studi giocosi: The Roots of Caricature in the Drawing Practice of the Carracci’s Accademia degli Incamminati

Abstract

Deformed, playful motifs are consistently found throughout the surviving corpus of Annibale and Agostino Carracci’s drawings. Largely undiscussed, the few drawings that have been considered have been conflated with caricature, owing to a misconception in scholarship that caricature in the 1580s and 1590s was a settled and defined category. Naming these playful motifs as 'studi giocosi' following Carlo Cesare Malvasia’s description of such drawings in his 'Felsina pittrice', this dissertation acknowledges that 'studi giocosi' were one of several origin points for caricature but otherwise asserts that these motifs arose from a practice of play that suffused the Carracci’s Accademia degli Incamminati. Studying the corpus of the Carracci’s drawings reveals how, in the boisterous, social atmosphere of the Accademia, the Carracci implemented play as a means to discover and disseminate knowledge. 'Studi giocosi' were games, tools of learning, and a means to explore the boundaries of representation.