Guercino in Piacenza -1626-1627 (Cathedral Dome - VII)

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Frieze of Putti with Swags of Fruit and Flowers
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

". . .  beneath the lunettes, a continuous frieze of putti, similarly alternating between two types: 'real life' putti in colour; and putti in feigned relief in monochrome."

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Frieze of Putti with Swags of Fruit and Flowers (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Frieze of Putti with Swags of Fruit and Flowers (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Frieze of Putti with Swags of Fruit and Flowers (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Frieze of Putti with Swags of Fruit and Flowers (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Frieze of Putti with Swags of Fruit and Flowers (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Frieze of Putti with Swags of Fruit and Flowers
(Figure Studies)
1627
drawing
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Frieze of Putti with Swags of Fruit and Flowers
(Figure Study)
1627
drawing
British Museum

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Frieze of Putti with Swags of Fruit and Flowers
(Figure Study)
1627
drawing
British Museum

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Grisaille Frieze of Putti and Female Figures (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Grisaille Frieze of Putti and Female Figures (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Grisaille Frieze of Putti and Female Figures (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Grisaille Frieze of Putti and Female Figures (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Grisaille Frieze of Putti and Female Figures
(Compositional Study)
1627
drawing
Albertina, Vienna

"The decoration [of the entire interior surface of the dome in Piacenza Cathedral] is his only large-scale fresco cycle in an important ecclesiastical building and the only one on public view.  The immense height and distinctive architectural framework of the cathedral's Gothic cupola, built some three centuries before, and the religious subject-matter of Guercino's fresco cycle strike a different note from his notably smaller, more modest ceiling frescoes painted shortly before in the reception rooms of Roman palaces."

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

Guercino in Piacenza -1626-1627 (Cathedral Dome - VI)

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyls
1627
frescoes
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl
(Figure Study)
1627
drawing
Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyls
1627
frescoes
Duomo di Piacenza

"In the early 17th century, very likely before Morazzone began work, the Gothic windows in alternate walls were blocked up to provide an uninterrupted field for decoration, and in these four arched lunettes Guercino painted his Scenes from the Nativity of Christ.  The windows of the other four walls were enlarged to a rectangular shape to make up for the loss of light caused by the filling in of four windows.  In the four lunettes with enlarged central windows, Guercino painted pairs of seated Sibyls, represented as eight handsome young women, one to each side of the window.  . . .  At the end of the 19th century, with the 'restoration' of the Cathedral to its 'original' Gothic style, the enlarged windows between the Sibyls were reduced again to smaller lancet windows and the stucco frames were removed.  In the process, an awkward neutral area of wall was created, with no immediate logic as to why the two seated sibyls to either side seem compressed within so narrow a field."

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl
(Figure Study)
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyls
1627
frescoes
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl
(Drapery Study)
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl
(Drapery Study)
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyls
1627
frescoes
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl
(Figure Study)
1627
drawing
Royal Library, Windsor

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Sibyl
(Drapery Study)
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

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

Guercino in Piacenza -1626-1627 (Cathedral Dome - V)

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
(Compositional Study)
1627
drawing
Musée du Louvre

"Of the drawings that have come to light since 1994, the most illuminating is the early compositional study for the Rest on the Flight into Egypt [directly above] in the Louvre, identified by Catherine Loisel.  All three protagonists appear, except for the ass, but they are positioned differently.  The motif of the Christ Child lying on the ground, lifting up his arms to be picked up, originates from Raphael and his school and was adopted later, among others, by Guido Reni.  In the Louvre drawing, the adoring foster father reaches towards his adoptive son, while the Virgin is relegated to the shadows, as she uncovers her breast to suckle the Child.  In the fresco, the action has moved a step further.  Joseph has picked Jesus up and is passing him to his mother, making feeding time a greater focus of the composition."

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
(Compositional Study)
1627
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
(Compositional Study)
1627
drawing
private collection

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
(Compositional Study)
1627
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
(Compositional Study)
1627
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
(Drapery Study for the Virgin)
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
(Drapery Study for the Virgin)
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
(Study for the Ass)
1627
drawing
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon

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

Guercino in Piacenza -1626-1627 (Cathedral Dome - IV)

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Annunciation to the Shepherds
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Annunciation to the Shepherds
(Studies for Angel) 
1627
drawing
private collection

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Adoration of the Shepherds
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Adoration of the Shepherds
(Compositional Study)
1627
drawing
Royal Library, Windsor

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Adoration of the Shepherds
(Figure Study for Shepherd)
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Adoration of the Shepherds
(Head Study for the Virgin) 
1627
drawing
Kunsthaus, Zürich

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Adoration of the Shepherds
(Study of Hands for the Virgin) 
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Adoration of the Shepherds
(Drapery Study for the Virgin)
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Adoration of the Shepherds
(Study for the Christ Child)
1627
drawing
private collection

"From May to July the following year [1627], Guercino carried out the second phase of the decoration.  This comprised the Scenes from the Nativity of Christ, the four pairs of Sibyls, and the frieze of putti.   The multi-figured Nativity scenes, the most complex (though not necessarily the most successful) of the three main sections of Guercino's Piacenza cycle, took the longest time to complete, each requiring between eleven and sixteen giornate."

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Presentation in the Temple
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Presentation in the Temple (detail)
1627
fresco
Duomo di Piacenza

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Presentation in the Temple
(Compositional Study)
1627
drawing
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Presentation in the Temple
(Figure Study - Priest and Christ Child)
1627
drawing
private collection

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Presentation in the Temple
(Drapery Study - Priest)
1627
drawing
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Presentation in the Temple
(Figure Study - Christ Child) 
1627
drawing
private collection

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