Young artists - presumed self-portraits by the brothers Agostino and Annibale Carracci, circa 1575-80

 

Presumed self-portrait of Agostino Carracci (16 August 1557, Bologna - 22 March 1602, Parma).

Presumed self-portrait of Annibale Carracci (3 November 1560, Bologna - 15 July 1609, Rome).

Born three years apart, the brothers are considered - along with their cousin, Ludovico Carracci - some of the most important figures in the development of the Baroque in Italy at the end of the sixteenth century. The brothers would have been somewhere between fifteen and twenty-three in these self-portraits. 

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Both drawings - of nearly identical size, in black and white chalks - are in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle.