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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Hercules 1645 oil on canvas Villa Medicea di Cerreto Guidi, near Florence |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Hercules 1645 preparatory drawing Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
"This half-length painting of Hercules . . . was commissioned by Cardinal Gian Carlo de' Medici, the brother of Prince Don Lorenzo de' Medici (1599-1648), and Guercino's charge of 20 Spanish doubloons (75 scudi) for the picture was paid on 20 September 1645 by the Bolognese nobleman Vitale Buoi. . . . At the time that Vitale Buoi was in correspondence with Cardinal Medici about the Hercules, he was in touch with Don Lorenzo about another half-length painting, an Atlas [directly below] which was sent to the prince a year later."
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Atlas 1646 oil on canvas Museo Bardini, Florence |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Atlas 1646 preparatory drawing Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Atlas 1646- preparatory drawing Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Atlas 1646 preparatory drawing Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Atlas 1646 preparatory drawing Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Atlas 1646 preparatory drawing Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Atlas 1646 preparatory drawing Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) St John the Baptist ca. 1645 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Samson and Delilah 1646 oil on canvas Edward Goodstein Collection, Atherton, California |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Samson and Delilah 1646 preparatory drawing Philadelphia Museum of Art |
"Under the year 1646, [Carlo Cesare] Malvasia listed 'due quadri grandi compagni per il Card. Falconieri Legato di Bologna, cioè una Dalida che mostra i capelli recisi à Sansone, & un Saule che tenta uccidere Davide con la lancia'. It is worth emphasizing Malvasia's word 'grandi', for [Samson and Delilah, above] and its companion, Saul attempting to kill David with a Spear [below] are larger in size than the painter's usual half-length canvases destined for private galleries."
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Saul attempting to kill David with a Spear 1646 oil on canvas Palazzo Barberini, Rome |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) St Francis receiving the Stigmata 1646 oil on canvas Convento dei Frati Cappuccini, Cesena |
"[St Francis receiving the Stigmata] was painted in 1646 for the high altar of the convent church of the Capuchin fathers at Cesena, as Malvasia reported. The church, dedicated to the Stigmatisation of St Francis, is adjacent to the monastery on a hill on the city's outskirts. According to the account book, the provincial father of the Capuchins of Romagna, who is referred to by his title only, paid Guercino 100 ½ scudi on 24 August 1646."
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) St Francis receiving the Stigmata 1646 preparatory drawing Art Institute of Chicago |
– quoted texts from The Paintings of Guercino: a revised and expanded catalogue raisonné by Nicholas Turner (Rome: Ugo Bozzi Editore, 2017)