Family of Bolognese artists active in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. They led a rebellion against the style known as mannerism and developed a more naturalistic style subsequently labelled baroque. The family is also important because they founded the Accademia dei Caracci, inspired by the Florentine Accademia del Disegno, the first officially recognized school for educating artists. Ludovico (1555-1619) and his cousins Agostino (1557-1602) and Annibale (1560-1609) were the first of the family to become painters and achieved great fame both through paintings done separately and through collaborative projects including a series of much-admired paintings in the Farnese Palace at Rome.
Historical Dictionary of Renaissance. Charles G. Nauert. 2004.