Saturday, June 12, 2021

Guercino in Bologna - 1657

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael
1657
oil on canvas
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael
1657
drawing (compositional study)
Royal Library, Windsor

Robert Strange after Guercino
Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael
1767
etching and engraving
Detroit Institute of Arts

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rinaldo and Armida
1657
oil on canvas
private collection

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rinaldo and Armida
1657
drawing (compositional study)
British Museum

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rinaldo and Armida
1657
drawing (compositional study)
Christ Church, University of Oxford

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rinaldo and Armida
1657
drawing (compositional study)
Fondation Custodia, Paris

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rinaldo and Armida
1657
drawing (compositional study)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Assumption of the Virgin
1657
oil on canvas
Galleria Estense, Modena

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Assumption of the Virgin
1657
drawing (figure study)
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
David with the Head of Goliath
1657
oil on canvas
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

"In 1657 Massimiliano III Stampa (1613; reg. 1621-59), 5th Marchese di Soncino, ordered four pictures from Guercino, recorded by [Carlo Cesare] Malvasia as follows: 'He made for Sig. Marchese Tonsini four paintings: Abraham expelling Hagar, Rinaldo and Armida, an Assumption of the Virgin, and a David with the head of Goliath' [all four above].  The Marchese spent much of his earlier life in exile from Milan.  While still a young man, he had murdered several of his subjects, and, to escape justice, fled to Naples.  He was condemned to death, in absentia.  For years he sought pardon, but to no avail.  Eventually, he had the idea of raising a mercenary army in Naples, marching it to Lombardy, and recapturing the city of Tortona from the French, which he succeeded in doing in 1643.  All of this was to gain the favour of King Philip IV of Spain, the most powerful person in Milan: the stratagem worked and, in 1646, the death penalty was lifted.  . . .  Through the intervention of Philip IV, Massimiliano III at last regained control of his estates from his brother some 10 years later."  

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
David with his Sling
(derived from David with the Head of Goliath)
after 1657
oil on canvas
private collection, Ireland

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Infant Christ Blessing
(Salvator Mundi)

1657
oil on canvas
Corsham Court, Wiltshire

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Infant Christ Blessing
(Salvator Mundi)

1657
drawing (compositional study)
Pinacoteca Civica, Cento

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