Follower of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called
Il Guercino (1599-1667)
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (1599-1666) is one of the leading figures in Italian seventeenth-century painting. Ha was nicknamed Guercino (Little squint eye) on account of a pronounced squint which afflicted him and, it would appear, also affected his personality. Naturally gifted, he acquired his skill without the guidance of a teacher, using as his model the paintings he saw around him and becoming, indirectly, a pupil of Ludovico Carracci. It was this great elder statesman of Bolognese painting who spotted Guercinos exceptional talents early on, predicting a glorious future for him after seeing some drawings the young man had made. Barbieri owed his early successes to the appreciation of three patrons of the arts- his fellow-countryman Padre Antonio Mirandola, and the cardinals Serra and Ludovisi who supported the artist during his most innovative and intensely creative years.
Between 1618 and 1621 Guercino can be considered the most fertile and energetic painter of genius working in Italy. Thanks to the expressive quality of the works he produced during those years, he was invited to Rome during the brief pontificate of Gregory xv Ludovisi. There, he decorated a number of important churches and palaces, and executed the gigantic altarpiece for St Peters, the Burial of St Petronilla. It was probably In Rome, where he was in contact with Domenichino and with Monsignor Agucchi that Guercino began to think about a change of style which, in the years after he returned home, led him towards a classicist, formal attitude to his work.
Alter painting the frescos for the cathedral at Piacenza (162627) his religious feelings must have taken root, and this certainly contributed to a change in his way of working in which irregular shapes and tumultuous brushwork were replaced by ever more composed forms, the result of an acquired, intellectual restraint. From 1629 there is clear evidence of Guercinos tireless activity. The Libro dei Conti (Account book), kept first by his brother Paolo Antonio and after his brothers death by Guercino himself, records all the paintings the master sold from 1629 onwards with their subjects, the names of those who commissioned them, sizes, and prices, giving us a complete picture of the scale of his success and resulting methodical professionalism. In 1642, a month or two before the death of Guido Reni, he moved to Bologna, where for more than two decades he was considered the leading figure in the citys artistic circles.
With more than 100 altarpieces, hundreds of easel paintings, and thousands of drawings to his name, Guercino was a prolific artist who despite alterations in his style and changing tastes, succeeded in maintaining impeccable quality, which was a model to his workshop (both nephews Benedetto and Cesare Gennari maintaining his traditions for several decades after his death) and the many followers. He died in 1666, aged 75, and, in recognition of his moral and spiritual qualities, was buried dressed in a Capuchin friars habit, in the Church of San Salvatore at Bologna.
Saint John The Baptist
Our present Painting is a good version of Guercinos half-length canvas of the youthful St John the Baptist, now in the Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome; another similar, smaller version being at the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Rome. Neither the Capitoline nor the Vatican picture can be identified with certainty, either in the list of Guercinos commissions, which appears in Malvasias life of the painter or among the payments the artist received for his canvases, which are registered in his Account Book. The composition of both the Capitoline picture and our present painting depicts the same youthful model looking upwards to the right, with an identical expression of reverence on his face. The Capitoline picture was formerly in the Sacchetti collection and it was presented to the Pinacoteca in 1748
St John The Baptist
Acquired by a Private Collector in the USA
Oil on Canvas, Unsigned. Good Condition. In a Carved Giltwood Frame of considerable importance, in good condition, some minor losses. Dated at verso: 1629.
Measurements Painting: 81 x 65cm (approx 18.5 x 14.25 inches);
Framed: 111 x 95cm (43.75 x 37.5 inches).
PROVENANCE: Inscribed verso Presented by Mr & Mrs Ellicott, Bellevue House, Goole 1943, when it was presented by this distinguished collector couple to the Goole Museums & Art Gallery, East Yorkshire. The painting was at that time ascribed to Guercino.
This stunning Canvas is a version of the Painting by Guercino (1599-1667) Saint John the Baptist, now at the Pinacoteca Capitolina in Rome. It dates early 1700, and was painted at a time when Cesare and Benedetto Gennari (the nephews of Guercino) still kept a very active workshop which continued to prosper after the death of their famous uncle. Although unlikely to have been painted by the Master himself, it is of sufficiently high quality to be ascribed to a close Follower. Experts have viewed this Painting and have advised accordingly.
Paintings by Guercino and by his workshop are present at the National Gallery in London, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and in all the most important Museums in the world.
LITERATURE: B. Ghelfi & Sir D. Mahon, Il libro dei conti del Guercino 1629-1666, Bologna 1997; L. Salerno, I Dipinti del Guercino, 1988, p. 407, cat. no. 349.
