Baldassarre Carrari “pittore tedesco”. Pittura e stampe a Ravenna tra Quattro e Cinquecento

Many art historians noted “northern influences” in Baldassarre Carrari's production, a perspective that has never been deeply examined. During XIX century, at least two works by Carrari were considered as by German school. How did Carrari become so close with northern style? Many German works of art were avaiable in Romagna between XV and XVI century: sculptures, paintings and overall prints. Carrari refers in his paintings not only to the most famous works by Schongauer and Dürer, but also to popular woodcuts for private devotion, a medium well documented in early modern Italy. Despite their poor style, Carrari did not hesitate in mixing elements from popular einblattdrucke with details from Dürer and Mantegna's prints. The use of northern prints was not olny typical of Carrari but seems to cause a kind of “expressionism” widely shared by the painters active in Ravenna in the first decade of XV century, such as the late Niccolò Rondinelli.