ludovico apprenticed under prospero fontana in bologna and traveled to florence, parma, and venice, before returning to his hometown. together with his cousins annibale and agostino carracci, ludovico worked in bologna on the fresco cycles depicting histories of "jason and medea" (1584) in palazzo fava, and the "histories of romulus and remus" (1590-1592) for the palazzo magnani. their individual contributions to these works are unclear, although annibale, the younger than ludovico by 5 years had gained fame as the best of the three. this led to annibale's famed commission of the "loves of the gods" in the palazzo farnese in rome. agostino joined annibale there briefly.