Carracci, Annibale (1560-1609)
Autoritratto con altre figure (Self-Portrait with Other Figures)
c.1593
Oil on canvas, 60 × 48 cm
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milano
The painter portrays himself in the mirror with three men who have been variously identified: the eldest may be Antonio, Annibale’s father, while the younger one is thought to be his brother Agostino’s illegitimate son Antonio. This family of artists, with their cousin Ludovico, played a key role in the renewal of painting at the turn of the 16th century. While there is likely to a reference here to the “three ages of man”, it is also the depiction of a glimpse of reality reflected in a mirror. (Brera)