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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Virgin and Child ca. 1638 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Virgin and Child (detail) ca. 1638 oil on canvas private collection |
"Guercino here borrowed unashamedly from his older Bolognese rival, Guido Reni, who was so annoyed by the regularity of these sleights-of-hand that he accused him of regularly poaching ('fishing') his ideas: 'egli pesca le mie idee e cerca il mio fare'. There are two blatant quotations from Reni's etching of The Virgin with Sleeping Christ Child [directly below]. The Child rests his head on the Virgin's breast, as she tenderly lays her cheek on his head. As he reaches up to grasp the edge of her bodice, his right arm is crooked in much the same way as in Reni's composition."
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| Guido Reni Virgin and Sleeping Christ Child before 1638 etching British Museum |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Lucretia 1638 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Lucretia 1638 drawing (figure study) Princeton University Art Museum |
"This rendering of the subject [of Lucretia's suicide] . . . is strongly Titianesque, both in invention and painterly execution. The figure's wrapt expression and pose seem to have been inspired by Titian's half-length Penitent Magdalene [directly below] in the Hermitage, St Petersburg, painted in the 1560s. Guercino probably would have known it from the engraving of 1566 [also below] by Cornelis Cort (c. 1533-1578), which is in reverse to its model and thus in the same sense as the Lucretia. . . . During the course of his career, Guercino painted six half-length canvases of Lucretia – only two of which are datable in the 1630s."
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| Titian Penitent Magdalene ca. 1565 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Cornelis Cort after Titian Penitent Magdalene 1566 engraving British Museum |
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| anonymous copyist after Guercino Christ mourned by the Virgin after 1638 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Civica, Cento |
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| after Guercino Christ mourned by the Virgin 1638 retouched offset of lost Guercino drawing Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) The Annunciation 1638-39 oil on canvas Chiesa dell' Annunciata all'Ospedale Maggiore, Milan |
"Malvasia listed The Annunciation under 1639, saying that it was for the altar of the church of the Ospedale Maggiore, the Ca' Grande, Milan, where it remains in situ. . . . The entry on the altarpiece for the exhibition on the Ca' Grande at the Palazzo Reale, Milan, in 1981, includes a vivid account of the expenses, inconveniences and unforeseen obstacles encountered by Alfonso Curti, the hospital's maestro di casa, who on 8 March 1630 was sent to Cento to collect the picture. . . . Arriving in Cento on 13 March, he was Guercino's guest and watched the master apply the final touches to the canvas. The next day, with the paint still wet, the altarpiece was packed and loaded on to a cart, under the supervision of Lorenzo Gennari, who then sealed the crate and accompanied Curti to Bologna. In under a week, on 20 March 1639, Curti and the altarpiece arrived safely in Milan and Guercino received the balance of his fee."
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) The Annunciation 1638-39 drawing (compositional study) Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) The Annunciation 1638-39 drawing (figure study - Angel) Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) The Annunciation 1638-39 drawing (figure study - Angel) Royal Library, Windsor |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) The Annunciation 1638-39 drawing (figure study - Angel) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) The Annunciation 1638-39 drawing (figure study - Virgin) private collection |
– quoted texts from The Paintings of Guercino: a revised and expanded catalogue raisonné by Nicholas Turner (Rome: Ugo Bozzi Editore, 2017)