Ludovico Carracci was born at Bologna in 1555, where he grew up together with his cousins Agostino Carracci and Annibale Carracci. The three artists formed the famous Bologna Carracci School, which made great contributions to the transition from Mannerism to a classicist early baroque.
It seems that the painter Prospero Fontana took care of the education of Ludovico Carracci. According to his biographer, the young Ludovico Carracci went on study trips to Venice, Florence and Parma.
Paintings by Ludovico Carracci show an increasing influence of Roman art as well as from Titian and Correggio. Additionally, the innovative style of his cousin Annibale Carracci left clear traces, so that works by the three Carracci are often hard to tell apart. And yet, Lodovico Carracci was a painter with a style of his own: Bolognese Mannerism remained Ludovico Carracci´s geatest source of influence through his life. An often reserved, ceremonial mode and a certain severity in modeling, which still conveys tender emotions, characterizes his art.
In the 1580s Ludovico Carracci became established as a painter in Bologna, earlier, in 1578 he had already joined the Bolognese painters´ gild "Compagnia dei Pittori". Ludovico Carracci and his cousins were also successful with the Carracci School outside of Bologna, but his own pieces were quite popular and achieved highest prices. Next to etchings he made a large number of paintings, up until the end of his life Lodovico Carracci painted altar pieces as well as small religious and profane scenes for private commissioners.
When his cousins set out for Rome in the 1590s Ludovico Carracci, apart from short trips, remained in Bologna. He led the Carracci School until his death in 1619.