Portrait of Cardinal Agucchi

1601

Moves to Rome to work with Annibale Carracci

In 1601 (by other accounts 1602) Domenichino moved to Rome, settled with his friend Francesco Albani in the Monti district, studied Raphael and worked under Annibale Carracci, whose pupil he considered himself until the master’s death. Alongside him worked Giovanni Lanfranco, later his chief rival.

1604

Patron and friend: Giovanni Battista Agucchi

With the support of Giovanni Battista Agucchi, secretary to the cardinal-nephew Pietro Aldobrandini, in 1604 Domenichino painted the fresco The Liberation of St Peter in San Pietro in Vincoli. Agucchi became his friend: they discussed questions of art and collaborated on a Treatise on Painting, and his ideas are mirrored in Domenichino’s art.

1609

Death of his master Annibale Carracci

After Annibale’s death in 1609 his pupils who kept to the master’s Roman style, Domenichino and Albani among them, lost out to Guido Reni in the race for the most prestigious commissions. According to Malvasia, Domenichino went unrecognised and underpaid, was left without commissions and was forced to beg for work through intermediaries “at any price”.