Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called il Guercino

(Cento 1591-1666 Bologna)

Study for Saint John the Baptist

Footnotes

Provenance
A New York estate, by whom sold
Sale, Skinner, Boston, 11 May 2018, lot 202, where purchased by the present owner

Relating to Guercino's Saint John the Baptist now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (GG_240, see fig. 1), the present drawing was made in preparation for the finished work by the artist for the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinando III, one of the painter's most prestigious patrons. In his biography for the artist, Malvasia records that in 1641 Guercino completed 'un quadro grande per la Cesarea Maesta' dell'Imperatore con un s. Giovanni nel Diserto mandato a Vienna'.

As was Guercino's practice, several preparatory sketches exist for this painting such as a red chalk drawing in a private collection (see N. Turner, The Paintings of Guercino, Rome, 2017, p. 563). Some alterations from drawing to painting can be noted with the most obvious being to the figure's reed cross, which has been moved from behind Saint John's knee to in front of it so that its whole length is visible.

In the present composition, Guercino has turned to the work of earlier artists. Firstly Guido Reni's The Sermon of John the Baptist (offered at Christie's, Milan, 29 November 2006, lot 84 ) who in turn had looked at Raphael's composition of Saint John now in the Uffizi.

The present drawing is accompanied by an expertise from Nicholas Turner confirming the attribution to Guercino (private communication, 13 December 2019). In his letter, Dr Turner suggests that the present work may possibly have been one of the hundreds of drawings left by the artist to his nephews, the Gennari of Bologna.