Madonna and Child with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist

Annibale Carracci was a vibrantly naturalistic painter, a draftsman, and the founder of an artist’s school. This luminous print represents the culmination of the 20 religious intaglio works engraved by the artist. Carracci created the work during a period at the end of his career in Rome marked by self-doubt, and the scene reflects his increasingly personal devotion. As here, the figural groupings in his last prints became increasingly monumental, even as he adopted a more intimate scale.