Lodovico Carracci and his cousin Agostino both studied with Prospero Fontana before founding the Academia del Incamminati in Bologna with Agostino’s younger brother, Annibale. Lodovico’s masterful canvases, filled with graceful figures, are testament to his skill as a draftsman and inventor of refined compositions, mostly religious in nature, executed with a skillful balance of naturalism and dreamy mysticism influenced by his hero Correggio. His influence on Bolognese painting was felt not only through the elegance of his paintings, but in the many students who were trained in his school, most of whom labored as studio assistants before setting out on successful careers of their own.