Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 16 May 1996, lot 42;
There purchased by the present collector for $46,000.

For a high resolution digital image, please refer to the online catalogue at Sothebys.com or contact a member of the Old Master Paintings department. Canvas has an old glue relining. Horizontal canvas seam running through bottom third through Susanna's leg and thigh. Retouching is visible under UV along seam. There are numerous old retouches due to older damages, notably a repaired tear in the face of the elder at left, a tear in the neck and chest of Susanna, and an area of retouching in the right foot of Susanna. Other scattered retouches are visible under UV along the background and around the canvas edges, as well as in the figures themselves but these are smaller. For a picture of this size retouches are to be expected and there are many strong, well detailed and colored passages of paint. A readjustment of older retouches would benefit the picture considerably. In a carved gilt wood frame with minor losses to gilding at corners.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Guerrieri was a native of Fossombrone where he spent much of his career.  Although clearly under the influence of Caravaggio, whose works he would have seen during sojourns in Rome in 1606 and 1612, Guerrieri later seems to have had an awareness of the work of Orazio Gentileschi as well.  He worked for Marcantonio Borghese in his palazzo in the Campo Marzio, Rome in 1615 and may have been in contact with Tanzio da Varallo during one of the Lombard painter's trips south.

This painting was seen in May 1995 by Federico Zeri who endorsed the attribution and dated it to circa 1615-1620 (see entry no. 46690 in the Photograph Library Catalogue of the Fondazione Zeri).