Innocenzo Tacconi

Bio

Tacconi was the eldest son of Prudenza, Ludovico Carracci’s sister, and he is represented in the Tacconi family portrait by Ludovico (Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale). Baglione and Malvasia state that he was a pupil of the Carracci since he was, so as to speak, related ‘come nel sangue, così nella virtù’ . He seems to have been somewhat of a bully boy imposing his will on the other students in the Carracci Academy. His artistic style is, in the main, based on the inventions of Annibale who frequently prepared the initial design.

After a period studying alongside Ludovico, Innocenzo went to Rome where, from the late 1590s, he collaborated with Annibale and executed the major portion of an altarpiece designed by Annibale and destined for Spoleto cathedral representing The Madonna of the Golden Manna with Saints Francis and Dorothy. The rather sharpened outlines and bright, brittle, metallic colouring is typical of Tacconi’s style at this time.

By 1597 Innocenzo’s handling had softened considerably. It is probable that the altarpiece representing The Madonna and Child with Saints Cecilia, Agnes, Eustace and Hermenegild (Rome, Capella della Manica Lunga al Quirinale) is in the main by Innocenzo’s hand and is considered, perhaps, to be the artist’s early masterwork. During the period 1597-1601 almost all of Innocenzo’s output is either based on an Annibale design or substantially executed by the artist with revisions by Annibale himself. An example is a substantial part of the vault of the fine frescoed ceiling for the Capella Cerasi in S. Maria del Popolo in Rome (1601).

A letter from Ludovico to Francesco Brizio records Innocenzo’s return to Bologna by June 1602.

Annibale’s declining health resulted in an ever increasing number of important commissions being handed to Innocenzo for execution and the rather stiffer handling is usually apparent when compared to Annibale’s late style. The 1603 Assumption of the Virgin (Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery) and the c. 1603/4 Crucifixion with Saints Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua (Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland) are typical major works of this period and there are paintings which have at least in part been attributed to Innocenzo in the museums in London, (National Gallery), Naples (Capodimonte), Paris (Louvre), Sarasota (Ringling Museum), Tours (Musée de Beaux Arts), Rome (Gallerie Nazionale).

Annibale’s death in 1609 must have constituted a major blow to this faithful follower and collaborator of the master; nevertheless he is believed to have executed a section of the frescoed ceiling of the Villa Grazioli in Frascati in 1614 and his frescoed Crucifixion for S. Sebastiano fuori le Mura, Rome probably also dates from this period and is considered to be the artist’s late masterpiece.

Innocenzo’s last works c. 1620 are the frescoes for the Capella dei Pescivendoli (Rome, S. Angelo in Pescheria) in which a hint of Domenichino’s influence may be detected and the later, rather limp, Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (Tivoli, Cathedral).