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| Guercino (and assistants) Flight of Aeneas Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Camera Rossa) 1615-17 detached fresco Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| Guercino (and assistants) Bellona, or, Allegory of Victory Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Sala Grande) 1615-17 detached fresco Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| Guercino Venus and Cupid in her Chariot drawn by Doves Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Grand Staircase Vault) 1615-17 drawing (compositional study) Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
Art historian Denis Mahon suggested that Guercino's drawing of Venus and Cupid [directly above] was an initial thought for a Casa Pannini fresco in the vault of the Grand Staircase. In the finished work the chariot remained but the goddess Diana was chosen to occupy it. (This fresco also was detached in the nineteenth century and is known to survive in a private collection, though not at present available for reproduction.) Venus and Cupid were subsequently reconceived and shifted to the chimneybreast in the Camera delle Venere [directly below].
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| Guercino (and assistants) Venus suckling Cupid Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Camera delle Venere) 1615-17 detached fresco Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| Guercino Venus suckling Cupid 1615-17 drawing (compositional study) Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice |
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| Francesco Bartolozzi Venus suckling Cupid while drawing Arrow from his Quiver ca. 1764 etching after compositional study by Guercino British Museum |
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| Guercino (and assistants) Head in Grisaille Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Camera Rossa) 1615-17 detached fresco Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| Guercino (and assistants) Head in Grisaille Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Camera Rossa) 1615-17 detached fresco Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| Guercino (and assistants) Head in Grisaille Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Camera Rossa) 1615-17 detached fresco Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| Guercino (and assistants) Head in Grisaille Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Camera Rossa) 1615-17 detached fresco Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| Guercino (and assistants) The Suicide Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Camera delle Venere) 1615-17 detached fresco Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| Guercino (and assistants) Two Embracing Couples in a Chariot drawn by Dragons Decorations of the Casa Pannini in Cento (Camera delle Venere) 1615-17 detached fresco Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| Marcantonio Raimondi Marcus Curtius engraving ca. 1500-1517 British Museum |
Guercino's fresco of Marcus Curtius for the Camera dei Cavalli in Casa Pannini is now in a private collection in Bologna and not available for reproduction. The engraving that inspired it [above] was by Raphael's favorite engraver, Marcantonio Raimondi, and already a century old by the time Guercino adapted it. A couple of decades later, Guercino returned to the subject in a fresh drawing [below] which may well have been among the group he presented to Queen Christina of Sweden when she visited the artist's studio in 1655. ("The Queen paid him the delicate compliment of soliciting permission to touch the hand which had produced so many beautiful works.")
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| Guercino Marcus Curtius plunging into the Chasm ca. 1630-35 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |