Descripción
OLD ANONYMOUS PAINTING CHRIST OF GUERCINO
Very old painting oil/ canvas Christ of Guercino.
It has a large wooden frame.
framed measurements; 100cm (39”) x 82cm (32”)
unframed 76cm (30”) x 59cm (23”)
Giovan (Giovanni) Francesco Barbieri (Cento, February 8, 1591-Bologna, December 9, 1666), better known by the nickname Guercino or Il Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter. He is a representative of the transition period from Roman-Bolognese classicism to full baroque. He suffered from strabismus, hence his nickname (guercino is the diminutive of guercio, cross-eyed in Italian).
Biography
Guercino was born in Cento (province of Ferrara), a city between Ferrara and Bologna, in the Emilia-Romagna region, son of Andrea Barbieri and Elena Ghisellini, a family of humble status. In addition to his hometown, he also lived and painted in Rome and Bologna. At the age of 17 he became associated with Benedetto Gennari “the Elder”, a painter of the Bolognese school. In 1615 he moved to Bologna, which was of great benefit to him, as it allowed him to study the valuable paintings preserved there. His own works earned the praise of the elderly Ludovico Carracci. He painted two large canvases, Elijah Fed by Ravens and Samson Arrested by the Philistines, in a very Caravaggio style (although it is unlikely that he could see any Caravaggio). These oil paintings were painted for Cardinal Jacopo Serra, the papal legate in Ferrara.
The Shepherds of Arcadia (Et in Arcadia ego) (Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica) was painted in 1618, at the same time as Marsyas Flayed by Apollo (Palazzo Pitti, Florence). As he often said, his style in these years was heavily influenced by the Carracci. Some of his later works, however, are more similar to those of his contemporary Guido Reni, who even accused him of plagiarism. They are clearer and more luminous paintings, with sweeter figures, which led to criticism in later centuries. During his lifetime, Guercino was very famous, and very prominent people went to Cento to see him, among them Velázquez, who visited him in 1629, during his first trip to Italy (1629-31).
Guercino was recommended by the Marquis Enzo Bentivoglio to the Pope, the Bolognese Alessandro Ludovisi, Gregory XV. He spent two years (1621-23) in Rome, where he painted many works and was portrayed in an engraving by Ottavio Leoni. From this period are the frescoes of the Casino of the Villa Ludovisi (The Dawn, The Fame and The Night), the ceiling of the Basilica of Saint Chrysogonus (1622) about Saint Chrysogonus in Glory, his portrait of Pope Gregory (currently in the Getty Center) and what is considered his masterpiece, The Burial of Saint Petronilla, for the Vatican (currently in the Capitoline Museums).
Risen Christ appearing to his mother. Oil on canvas, 260 × 179 cm, c. 1629-1630. The Frenchman Joseph Jérôme Le Français de Lalande wrote in his Voyage d’un François en Italie, fait dans les années 1765 & 1766 that it was “the most famous of all the tableaux of Cento” (the most famous of all the paintings of Cento).1 Pinacoteca civica di Cento.
Starting in 1628, a stylistic change occurred in Guercino’s work, which experts have called seconda maniera (second style). Now his figures will have an imposing appearance, close to the ideals of physical perfection that the Romanist school founded by Raphael had sought in the previous century.
In 1641 the prior of the Charterhouse of Pavia, Ignazio Bulla, commissioned him to create the large altarpiece of the Virgin and Child enthroned between Saint Peter and Saint Paul for the altar of Saints Peter and Paul2. The Franciscan order of Reggio paid him 300 ducats in 1655 for the work Saint Luke showing a painting of the Virgin and her son (currently in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, in Kansas City). The Corsini also paid him 300 ducats for the Flagellation of Christ painted in 1657.
What stands out in Guercino is his great ease and speed in completing his paintings; He made no less than 106 large altar works for churches, and 144 paintings of other themes and formats. In 1626 he began frescoing it in the Duomo of Piacenza. Guercino continued painting and teaching until his death in 1666. By the time he died he had accumulated a considerable fortune. He was buried, at his request, next to his brother, Paolo Antonio, also a painter, in the Church of San Salvador (Bologna).
Gravestone of the Barbieri brothers.
His presence in Spanish museums is relevant. The Prado Museum has eight paintings, including Susanna and the Elders, Saint Augustine meditating on the Trinity, Penitent Magdalene and Saint Peter liberated by an angel (which would be engraved by Ramón Bayeu), as well as many other drawings. Also notable in Spain are Lot and his daughters (Monastery of El Escorial) and Christ and the Samaritan woman (Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum).