In this artwork, how is the Carracci model discussed?
The 17th-century art historian Gian Pietro Bellori makes the first mention of this work and describes it as a copy of a lost work by Annibale Carracci.  Domenichino had been trained in Bologna by Annibale's brother Ludovico Carracci, and after moving to Rome in 1602 joined the circle of Annibale, who had already made the move there around the time Domenichino began to work with Ludovico.  At this relatively early period in his career Domenichino copied several works by Annibale, and Bellori's statement has been generally accepted.  However it seems that Bellori probably never saw the Carracci original, and no certain documentation for its subsequent history has been found. There is evidence bearing on the development of the composition in the form of a number of drawings by both Annibale and Domenichino, and two paintings by Giovanni Lanfranco, another young artist in the circle, that are based on the lost Carracci (one known only from a further copy).There has been a good deal of academic discussion on the matter, without a clear consensus being found as to how close Domenichino's composition is to the lost Carracci. The main Lanfranco, now at Alnwick Castle, is clearly related to the Domenichino, but has substantial differences, being in a horizontal format and with  none of the poses of the figures exactly the same, and several substantially different.  The possibility remains that Bellori was "slightly mistaken" and that the phantom Carracci Adoration was never painted and that Domenichino was only working from drawings by Carracci, who painted little after a serious illness in 1605, but did produce an etching of this subject in about 1606.Most of the large collection of workshop drawings left by Domenichino passed through the Albani Collection before ending up in the British Royal Collection, bought for George III; there are over 1,750 sheets at Windsor Castle today.  These include a sheet with studies of the Edinburgh figures of Joseph on one side and the bagpiper on the other.  Drawings can be regarded by different scholars as either copies of something already existing, sketches where an artist works out something new, or adaptations that are something in between, and this ambiguity has affected discussion of this question.  Hugh Brigstocke, in the National Gallery of Scotland catalogue, sees this sheet as studies by Domenichino for new figures for his version of Carracci's composition, after Domenichino decided to add the bagpiper to strengthen the composition, necessitating a new position for Joseph. Other details, such as the boy with the dove, borrow from other drawings by Annibale Carracci.
Domenichino Bologna Edinburgh etching bagpipe National Gallery of Scotland Ludovico Carracci Alnwick Castle Royal Collection Gian Pietro Bellori Annibale Carracci George III left Albani Collection Giovanni Lanfranco Windsor Castle