Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called il Guercino

Painted in 1645 for Cardinal Federigo Cornaro (1579-1653) and listed in the inventory drawn up at the time of his death in 1653 by Tommaso Cennini;
Included in an account book and packing list in December 1653 of paintings to be sent to the Cornaro family residence of San Polo, Venice:
Possibly by family descent until sold in 1790 by an unidentified Cardinal Cornaro along with other works from his appartamento in Rome;
Possibly acquired by James Irvine (1759?-1831) in Rome;
Possibly sold, London, Christie's, 24 March 1792, where purchased by Robert Fagan for 44 guineas;
Possibly offered London, Christie's, 1 June 1801, where purchased by Charles Birch for 15 guineas;
In the collection of William Haldimand, London, by 1830 (when engraved by Caterina Piotti-Pirola);
In the collection of Richard Sanderson Esq., of Belgrave Square, London;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, 20 March 1858, lot 19, for £210 to 'Bentley';
Sir Francis Thornhill Baring (1796-1866), 3rd Baronet and 1st Baron Northbrook of Stratton, Hants.;
By inheritance to Thomas George Baring (1826-1876), 2nd Baron Northbrook and 1st Earl of Northbrook;
By inheritance to Francis George Baring (1850-1929), 3rd Baron Northbrook and 2nd Earl of Northbrook;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, 12 December 1919, lot 126, for 18 guineas, to C. Duits;
Believed to have been acquired by the grandfather of the present owners in London during the 1920s or '30s;
Thence by descent.

C.C. Malvasia, Felsina Pittrice, Vite de' Pittori Bolognesi, 1678, vol. III, p. 374;
J.A. Calvi, Notizie della vita, e delle opere del cavaliere Gioan Francesco Barbier detto il Guercino da Cento, 1808, no. 339;
W.H. James Weale and J.P. Richter, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures belonging to the Earl of Northbrook, London 1889, p. 135, no. 187;
D. Mahon, "Guercino's Paintings of Semiramis", in The Art Bulletin, vol. 31, 1949, pp. 217-23, reproduced fig. 2;
N.B. Grimaldi, Il Guercino, Bologna 1968, p. 105, reproduced plate 194 (erroneously listed as in a private collection, London);
L. Salerno, I Dipinti del Guercino, Rome 1988, p. 301, cat. no. 227, reproduced (as present whereabouts unknown, with erroneous measurements);
D. Mahon and N. Turner, The Drawings of Guercino in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge 1989, p. 65, under cat. no. 114, and p. 144, under cat. no. 434;
D.M. Stone, Guercino, catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1991, p. 220, cat. no. 208 (as present whereabouts unknown; with erroneous measurements of 116 by 154 cm.;
B. Ghelfi (ed.), Il libro dei conti del Guercino 1629-1666, Venice 1997, p. 127, no. 339;
W.L. Barcham, Grand in Design. The Life and Career of Federico Cornaro, Prince of the Church, Patriarch of Venice and Patron of the Arts, Venice 2001, p. 323, footnote 58, p. 324, and p. 412;
N. Turner, in Clerics and Connoisseurs, exhibition catalogue, London, Kenwood House, 19 October 2001 - 27 January 2002, under cat. no. 57;
N. Turner, in Guercino, Poesia e Sentimento nella Pittura del '600, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Palazzo Reale, 27 September 2003 - 18 January 2004, pp. 216-7, under cat. no. 68.

ENGRAVED:
By Caterina Piotti-Pirola, in 1830, whilst in the collection of William Haldimand, London.

This important painting by Guercino, representing Semiramis called to Arms, is believed to be the original work commissioned from the artist in 1645 by Cardinal Federigo Cornaro, and included in that year in the Libro dei conti. It was last recorded when sold by the Earl of Northbrook in London in 1919, since which time it has remained untraced until its recent discovery in a European private collection, where it has remained for more than eighty years. Its re-emergence represents an important rediscovery of a key commission by Guercino and the restoration of the picture to its rightful position within the artist's oeuvre.

The story of Semiramis is recounted by the Roman historian and moralist Valerius Maximus in his De Factis Dictisque Memorabilibus Libri (vol. IX, p.3, ext.4), a collection of short stories illustrating examples of good and bad conduct from the lives of important figures. Semiramis, a woman of unrivalled beauty, was the daughter of the fish-goddess Derceto, and became one of the founders of the Assyrian empire of Nineveh. In the present work, Guercino illustrates the story of Semiramis called to Arms at the precise moment at which the Queen is interrupted at her toilette by a messenger bearing the news of the revolt of the Babylonians. According to Valerius Maximus, in keeping with her imperious and war-like nature, she immediately abandoned her toilette, with her hair in disorder, and rushed to take up arms to quell the revolt.

The subject clearly appealed to Guercino, for he painted no fewer than three treatments of the theme, all of half-length format (for a fuller discussion, see Mahon, under Literature, 1949). The first is a painting today in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (see Salerno, under Literature, pp. 184-85, no. 102, reproduced), which he executed in 1624 for Daniele Ricci. In around 1627-28 he returned to the subject, with a painting formerly in the Staatliche Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, destroyed in 1945 (op. cit., p. 214, no. 121, reproduced). The third and final treatment, identifiable with the present work, was commissioned in 1645 by Cardinal Cornaro and is recorded in the artist's Libro dei conti in an entry dated 22nd December 1645 (no. 339):

"Dall'Em^.mo Sig.^r Cardinale Cornaro, si e riceuto per il Quadro della Regina Semiramiss, ducat^.ni 150. che fano L 750- è questi per mano dell Ill^.mo Sig^.r Gio: Lupari, fano Scudi 187 1/2."

As Sir Denis Mahon has pointed out, given that the two earlier treatments were produced during the 1620s, before the inception of the Libro dei conti, this entry must necessarily refer to the present treatment, which on stylistic grounds is also consistent with a dating to the mid-1640s. 

Until the emergence of the present work, the composition was known in two other versions. The best of these is an autograph painting, and accepted as such by Sir Denis Mahon, of similar dimensions, today in the Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands, Surrey, which was bought London, Christie's, 25 October 1985, lot 241 (oil on canvas, 128.5 by 153.5 cm.; see exhibition catalogue, Clerics & Connoisseurs, under Literature, pp. 246-52, no. 57, reproduced). The second version, which has been tentatively attributed to Guercino's studio assistant Bartolomeo Gennari is at Petworth House, Sussex (oil on canvas, 129.5 by 157.5 cm.; op. cit., reproduced p. 247, fig. 57b).  Both paintings were recently cleaned in preparation for the 2001/2 exhibition Clerics & Conoisseurs, at which time (and before the re-emergence of the present version) Turner and Mahon considered the Cobbe picture to be the artist's original painted for Cardinal Cornaro in 1645. In the exhibition catalogue entry, Turner supported this theory on qualitative grounds, observing that at the time of the 1919 sale the Northbrook picture (which until then had been widely believed to be the Cornaro painting) was seemingly considered only a studio version, as underlined by its modest price of only 18 guineas.

That the present version corresponds to the Northbrook picture is attested to by the existence of an old black and white photograph of the Northbrook picture, taken by Hanfstaengl, which is reproduced, among others, by Salerno (see Literature). The photograph appears to be identical to the present version and also reveals a number of small differences from the Cobbe painting, notably in the handling of the face of Semiramis, the detailing to the background, the silver ornamentation to the mirror, the positioning of the crown, and, perhaps most significantly, in the existence of the addition of a stone ledge in the lower right corner (the outline is clear in the photograph, although the ledge itself has only emerged in its entirety following a light cleaning). A comparison between the present picture and photographs of the Cobbe picture, reveal the present version to be the prime original. The handling betrays an overall confidence and spontaneity consistent with a prime version, which is underlined by the existence of a number of pentiments, the most significant of which is to the blue trimming of Semiramis' bodice on her chest, which the artist has clearly altered on the canvas by painting the blue over a small area of the white of her shirt, thereby changing the profile of her chest (a change of a slightly different character is present in the same area in the Cobbe version). In addition, the subtlety and sophistication of the modelling to the hands and faces, as well as the highly accomplished treatment of light, all point to the primacy of the present version. As in the Cobbe picture, the highly detailed objects of the crown, mirror, and jewellery are by the hand of the artist's younger brother (and compiler of the Libro dei conti) Paolo Antonio Barbieri (1603-1649), a still-life painter in his own right. 

It may also be significant that along the edges of the present version are traces of old gilding, which perhaps relate to the early history of the painting and its use as an overdoor, referred to in an inventory drawn up on the death of Cardinal Cornaro in 1653, where it is listed along with works by Pietro da Cortona and Andrea Sacchi, as an overdoor in the ottava stanza:

"Tre Quadri per sopraporte grandi, uno del Guercino, che è la Regina Semiramis e l'altro di Pietro da Cortona, che è l'Eliseo, che ravviva il figlio alla vedova, et il 3.o è Noè d'Andrea Sacchi con suoi cornici alla romana intagliate e indorate."

Efforts have been made by Turner to identify the other two sovrapporte which hung alongside the Guercino, formerly believed to have been located at Palazzo Cornaro, but more likely situated at Cardinal Cornaro's private rooms at the Palazzo San Marco (discussed below under 'A Note on the Provenance'). Pietro da Cortona's painting of Elijah, although untraced today, is probably reflected through a drawing by the artist recently acquired by the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and Andrea Sacchi's painting described in the inventory as 'Noè', in all probability refers to his famous composition of The Drunkenness of Noah, which is known in several versions including a painting in the Museo Provinciale, Catanzaro (for a fuller discussion, see N. Turner, in Clerics and Conoisseurs, under Literature, pp. 251-52, reproduced).

Although no preparatory sketches for the overall mise-en-scène have survived, three drawings by the artist, each dated by Mahon and Turner to the 1640s, appear to relate to the present work. Two of these are today in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, the first of which is a pen and ink drawing of Semiramis at Her Toilet receiving a Messenger (see Mahon and Turner, under Literature, 1989, p. 65, no. 114, reproduced on p. 119). The sketch, which may have been an initial idea by the artist, shows a bearded man in a similar pose to the Cornaro picture, standing before Semiramis, who has been turned towards the viewer with her right hand raised in dismay and her left arm held across her body. The second of the drawings in the Royal Collection is A Man Carrying a Letter, which reveals significant changes to the messenger in the present work and as such may have been an initial idea, omitted in the final work (op. cit., 1989, p. 144, no. 434, reproduced plate 335). The third drawing, which was sold New York, Sotheby's, 21 January 2003, lot 49 (and today in the Cobbe Collection), is a study of A Young Woman, Head and Shoulders relating to the figure of Semiramis, which elaborates the gesture of arrest which is included in the artist's final composition.

We are grateful to Sir Denis Mahon and Nicholas Turner for independently endorsing the attribution to Guercino, following first-hand inspection, and for confirming that in their opinion the present work is the Northbrook picture and in all probability the artist's original commissioned and paid for by Cardinal Cornaro in 1645.

A Note on the Provenance
Cardinal Federigo Cornaro was an eminent Venetian and son of the Doge Giovanni Cornaro (Corner). He was a distinguished patron of the arts, whose crowning achievement was his famous family chapel dedicated to Saint Theresa in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, commissioned from Gianlorenzo Bernini at around the same time that Guercino painted the present work. He also assembled a significant collection of paintings, mainly of the Roman and Bolognese schools, which included two further works ascribed to Guercino, one representing Saint Matthew and the Angel, the other a depiction of Absalom and Tamar, commissioned in 1644 and today at Tatton Park, Cheshire. Cardinal Cornaro was until recently believed to have lived in Rome in a palace commissioned during the 16th century by his forebear Cardinal Alvise Cornaro from the Sicilian architect Giacomo del Duca (circa 1520- after 1601). The palace, formerly known as Palazzo Cornaro (which still exists in Rome today, close to the Trevi fountains), was acquired by Cardinal Mazzarino on the death of Cardinal Cornaro in 1653 and subsequently entered into the Pamphilij family, until taken over by the Vatican and converted into the offices of the Papal Printing Press, earning its present name the Palazzo della Stamperia. A recent study of the Cornaro archives by Barcham (see Literature) however reveals that Federigo Cornaro received rental fees for Palazzo Cornaro from Cardinal Valente (between 1644-46) and his brother Francesco Cornaro (from 1645-46), the latter of whom owned the Palazzo outright by September 1646. Cardinal Cornaro himself  appears to have lived in an appartment (today probably destroyed) on the Via del Corso, although the Guercino and the corresponding overdoors are believed to have hung in his private rooms (the camerone and audience chamber) at Palazzo San Marco (today Palazzo Venezia) where he would receive public audience. Barcham has also brought to light an account book and packing list prepared for Federico's brother Francesco, in December 1653 (following the former's death), with a list of paintings to be shipped to the Cornaro residence at San Polo in Venice. This list includes Guercino's Semiramis, along with other important works, including Cortona's Elijah, the aforementioned Guercino of Saint Matthew and the Angel and works by Guido Reni and Carracci among others.

The painting is next mentioned in 1678 by Malvasia in his Vite de' Pittori Bolognesi (described as "All'Eminentissimo Cardinale Cornaro,...una Semiramide quando ebbe la nova della presa di Babilonia"), however its precise movements following its removal to Venice in 1653 is uncertain, for it is not evidently listed in any of the subsequent San Polo inventories (although many attributions were obscured in these inventories - see Barcham, under Literature, p. 413). It may however have found its way back to Rome possibly forming part of a group of works sold in 1790 from the appartamento of an unidentified Cardinal Cornaro of Rome. This sale is referred to in a letter (today in the National Gallery, London), dated 3 March 1790, to Sir Abraham Hume (1749-1838) from his principal agent, the Venetian dealer Giovanni Maria Sasso (1742-1803). The precise fate of the painting thereafter is also unclear, however there are a number of references to pictures of this subject by the artist on the London market around that time. It is perhaps most likely to be the painting acquired by James Irvine (1759?-1831) in Rome, which was sold London, Christie's, 24 March 1792, where it was bought by the dealer Robert Fagan for 44 guineas. The same work appears to have returned to the market shortly after and was sold London, Christie's, 1 June 1801, where it was purchased by Charles Birch, for a lesser price of 15 guineas. There is mention of two further appearances of paintings of this subject by Guercino on the market in London, one offered by George Graves (Christie's, 6-7 May 1803) and another by Peter Cox (Christie's, 4 June 1812), although on both occasions the picture was bought in, and in all probability neither is identifiable with the Northbrook picture. The painting is next recorded in the collection of William Haldimand, London, where it was engraved in 1830 by Caterina Piotti-Pirola (the engraving was exhibited in the same year at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Milan). It was subsequently in the collection of Richard Sanderson of Belgrave Square, London, at whose sale on 20 March 1858, it was sold to Bentley, who acquired the painting on behalf of Sir Francis Thornhill Baring, 3rd Baronet and 1st Baron Northbrook of Stratton, Hampshire. It passed through the Barons Northbrook during the second half of the 19th and early 20th century to the 3rd Baron Northbrook, by whom it was sold at Christie's in London on 12 December 1919, as lot 126 to the dealer Clifford Duits. The grandfather of the present owners is believed to have acquired the painting in London during the 1920s or '30s.