Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Guercino in Rome - 1621 (Casino Ludovisi - II)

James Anderson
Guercino's Aurora Fresco, 1621
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1859
albumen silver print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Study for Aurora in her Chariot 
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
preparatory drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Study for Aurora in her Chariot 
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
preparatory drawing
Courtauld Institute, London

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Study for Aurora in her Chariot 
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
preparatory drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Study for Aurora in her Chariot 
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
preparatory drawing
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Study for Aurora
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
preparatory drawing
Royal Library, Windsor

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Study for Aurora
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
preparatory drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Study for Aurora
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
preparatory drawing
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Study for Tithonus
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
preparatory drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Oliviero Gatti after Guercino
Study for Leg of Tithonus, and Putto supporting Swag
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
engraving, after Guercino drawing
(from published manual, Principles of Drawing)
British Museum

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Day
1621
lunette fresco
Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome

Giovanni Volpato after Guercino
Day
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
ca. 1782
etching and engraving
British Museum

"On the lunettes of the short sides of the [Sala dell'Aurora] are representations of Day and Night.  The figure of Day or Lucifer (whose name literally means the 'bringer of dawn') [above] . . . holds up a flaming torch in his left hand, flowers in his right.  . . .  Guercino represented [Night, below] resting her elbow on a book and falling asleep.  Because she is the mother of sleep and death, two sleeping putti, as well as an owl, a bat and ruins are depicted."

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Night
1621
lunette fresco
Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome

Francesco Pozzi after Guercino
Night
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1779
engraving
British Museum

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Study for figure of Night
(Sala dell'Aurora, Casino Ludovisi, Rome)
1621
preparatory drawing
Royal Library, Windsor

– quoted texts from The Paintings of Guercino: a revised and expanded catalogue raisonnĂ© by Nicholas Turner (Rome: Ugo Bozzi Editore, 2017)