Giovanni Careri is Directeur d’études at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and Professor of Art History at IUAV University in Venice. Currently a fellow at the Italian Academy, he is exploring the concept of the “living” (il vivo) as related to the concept of the “true” (il vero), focusing on a corpus of genre paintings by the Bolognese painter Annibale Carracci (1560–1609).
The seminar presents four interwoven analytical perspectives on Annibale Carracci's Mangiafagioli (Beans Eater) c.1585.The first consists of the hypothesis that a latent scene - the Supper at Emmaus - is hidden behind the representation of a simple peasant meal. The second is the study of the specific form of self-presentation of the painting and the devices for involving the spectator. One of the consequences of these strategies of visual enunciation is the displacement of ridicule to a subtle form of wit close to the mot d'esprit. The third focus of interest concerns the inscription of the act of painting and the materiality of the canvas and color in the painting. The seminar closes with an analysis of the gesture and its “authorship-free” authority and with the hypothesis that the Eucharistic model may account for the programmatic aim that this painting shares with other paintings by the painter from the same period.
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