«ella è de’ Carracci, l’abbiamo fatta tutti noi»

The Carracci's Hall

Explore the digitalised frescoes in collaboration with HALTADEFINIZIONE
Palazzo Magnani is one of the most representative locations for the UniCredit Art Collection. In addition to the Quadreria rooms on the ground floor, there is also a frescoed hall known as the Hall of the Carracci.

Lorenzo Magnani, appointed senator in 1590, decided to celebrate his family’snewfound success with the construction of a palace that would symbolize their rise: Palazzo Magnani.
Lorenzo commissioned the decoration of the main hall—also known as the Senatorial Hall—with the Stories of the Founding of Rome to one of the most renowned art workshops of his time: the Carracci.

Thus, Annibale Carracci, together with his brother Agostino and cousin Ludovico—three well-known names of the Bolognese Renaissance—began working on the frescoes of what is now known as the Hall of the Carracci.
Drawing faithfully from Plutarch’s account of the Stories of Rome, the Carracci narrate the founding of the Eternal City with a distinctive style and a more human vision of the sacred, beginning with the discovery of Romulus and Remus along the Aniene River.
The fresco cycle consists of fourteen scenes that, like frames from a film, guide the viewer from the famous Rape of the Sabine Women to Romulus marking the city’s boundaries with a plow.

The artists worked together from 1589 to 1592, producing other notable works as well. It was not uncommon in art history for multiple hands to collaborate on large-scale works.

The synergy of the three Carracci was so strong that art historians have struggled to attribute individual styles, leading to a joint attribution of the work.
Their desire for collaboration and shared artistic mastery led to the founding of the Accademia degli Incamminati (initially called Accademia dei Desiderosi), one of the first art academies in Italy, established by Annibale, Agostino, and Ludovico Carracci.
The Academy was created to provide young artists with a comprehensive education—both practical and theoretical—and more.

Annibale, Agostino, and Ludovico Carracci, founders not only of the Academy but also of this philosophy of sharing, exchange, and teamwork, would simply respond to curious onlookers asking who painted what in the Senatorial Hall of Palazzo Magnani:
“It is by the Carracci: we did it all together.”
HALTADEFINIZIONE for UniCredit Art Collection