Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino

Casa Gennari;
Possibly Francesco Forni;
John Bouverie (L.325),
by inheritance to his sister Anne Bouverie and his brother-in-law John Hervey,
by descent to his son Christopher Hervey, at his death in 1786,
by inheritance to his aunt Elizabeth Bouverie;
by bequest to Sir Charles Middleton, later 1st Baron Barham,
Sir Gerard Noel, father of the first Earl of Gainsborough,
by descent to Charles Noel, 3rd Earl of Gainsborough,
sale, London, Christie's, 20th July 1859, possibly part of lot 73 ('The Property of A Nobleman');
Sir Edward John Poynter,
his sale, London, Sotheby's 24 April 1918, lot 52;
The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Harewood,
his sale, London, Christie's, 6 July 1965, lot 115 (as the 'Infant Moses');
Jacob Theodor Cremer,
his sale, Amsterdam, 17 November 1988, lot 113, purchased by a European private collector,
by inheritance to the present owner

Cento, Pinacoteca Civica, La 'Candida Rosa', 1988, p. 179, no. 63, reproduced

D. Mahon, Il Guercino, Catalogo critico dei Disegni, exhib. cat., Bologna, Palazzo dell' Archiginnasio, 1968, p. 111;
P. Bagni, Guercino a Piacenza, Gli affreschi nella cupola della Cattedrale, Bologna 1983, p. 112, no. 42, reproduced p. 113, and p. 114 under no. 43;
J. Bentini, Disegni Emiliani del Sei-Settecento, I grandi cicli di affreschi, Milano 1990, p. 85, no. 14. 3, reproduced in color;
P. Bagni, Gli Affreschi del Guercino nel Duomo di Piacenza, Padua 1994, p. 110, no. 75, reproduced

Hinged at the two top corners. Overall in good condition media fresh and strong. Slight buckling at the top of the sheet. Little foxing hardly visible an some slight surface dirt at the top margin. The right point of the bottom corner made up. Sold mounted and framed in a modern wooden gilded frame.
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.

Highly finished and refined, this handsome red chalk study by Guercino relates to the artist’s important decorative scheme in the cupola of the Cathedral of Piacenza. It is preparatory for the infant Christ in the center foreground of The Adoration of the Shepherds (fig. 1), one of a series of scenes relating to the Nativity of Christ, frescoed by Guercino in four of the eight arched lunettes located directly below the uppermost part of the cupola. These scenes, representing The Annunciation, The Adoration of the Shepherds, The Presentation in the Temple and The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, occupy alternate lunettes, separated by others housing windows flanked by frescoed Sibyls.  Above these lunettes rise the eight segments of the top part of the cupola, each filled by the monumental figure of a prophet.

The commission for the decoration of the cupola was originally entrusted to the Milanese artist Pierfrancesco Mazzuchelli, called il Morazzone (1573-1626), but he died suddenly in 1626, having completed just two of the large figures of prophets. Guercino took over the project, and by the end of the same year he had painted the remaining six prophets. The following year, Guercino executed the decoration of the eight arched lunettes, and underneath them, in the drum of the cupola, a continuous frieze of putti. 

The present drawing, delicately executed in red chalk but also strikingly finished, testifies to the great mastery in the use of this versatile medium that is evident in Guercino’s work throughout his career.  Even in an early drawing such as this, he achieved an extraordinary variety in the tonal range and intensity in the rendering of the flesh.  Already here, the artist has reached the exceptional heights of refinement that we admire so much in his later works, and although it is unquestionably a preparatory study, Guercino has finished this drawing as a work of art in its own right, in contrast to the many drawings in which he continuously searches for solutions, making endless alterations and revisions.  This must surely represent the final stage in Guercino’s development of the painted image, and follow after other discarded ideas.  Indeed, we have evidence of one such idea, in a much sketchier preliminary study, in red chalk, for the figure of the Christ Child, in a private collection, which shows the Child with open arms (fig. 2).¹  

Given the importance of this early commission it is not surprising that Guercino made a large number of preparatory studies, many of which have survived.  The artist’s first step in the preparation of The Adoration of the Shepherds seems to have been to make rapid sketches in pen and ink for the whole composition, two of which, in the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and a private collection, were published by Prisco Bagni in his book devoted to the Piacenza cupola frescoes.²  Nicholas Turner has also associated a further compositional study in pen and ink and wash, in a private collection, with the same composition.³  These preliminary studies, ‘primi pensieri’, were followed by pen or chalk studies for individual figures, such as a sheet in pen and ink, in the Uffizi, much of which is devoted to a study for a shepherd, later discarded.⁴  Guercino focused on, and drew, every detail, often using red or black chalk; there are, for instance, two drawings at Schloss Fachsenfeld relating to the figure of the kneeling Madonna, one a drapery study and the other a study of her crossed hands.⁵

The provenance of this drawing is as exceptional as its artistic quality and state of preservation.  It was purchased in Italy by John Bouverie (c.1722-50),⁶ whose collector’s mark is often associated with the best of Guercino’s drawings (see also lot 121).  An enthusiastic traveller, Bouverie died in Turkey in 1750, at the age of only 27, but during his short life he took full advantage of his travels to collect antiquities, paintings and most of all drawings.⁷  While making his Grand Tour, principally through Italy, at some point before 1742, Bouverie was able to acquire a large number of drawings, including an entire album of sheets by Guercino purchased from the 'Abbé Bonducci' in Florence, which came directly from the Gennari family, probably from Filippo Antonio Gennari.⁸  But given the large number of drawings by Guercino that were ultimately owned by Bouverie, he clearly also acquired more drawings by the artist when he was in Italy again in 1745-46, this time most probably from Francesco Forni.  As Prisco Bagni pointed out, Francesco seems to have been the son of Antonio Forni, the leading dealer in Old Master drawings in Bologna.⁹

The present drawing was etched by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815).¹⁰ It is unquestionably one of the finest of all the red chalk drawings that Guercino executed during his early career, and is further distinguished by its appealing subject, exceptional state of preservation, and remarkably illustrious provenance.

^1. P. Bagni, op. cit., Bologna 1983, p. 110, no. 41, reproduced p. 111

^2. Paris, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, inv. no. E.B.A. n. 153;  Ibid., p. 104, no. 38, reproduced p. 105, and p. 108, no. 40, reproduced p. 109 

^3. N. Turner, Guercino la scuola, la maniera, I disegni degli Uffizi, exhib. cat, Florence, Uffizi, 2008, p. 62, reproduced fig. 22a

^4. Ibid., pp. 61-62, no. 22, reproduced fig. 22

^5. Bagni, op. cit., Bologna 1983, p.116, no. 44, reproduced p. 117, and p. 118, no. 45, reproduced p. 119

^6. N. Turner, ‘John Bouverie as a Collector of Drawings,’ The Burlington Magazine, vol. 136, February 1994, pp. 90-99

^7. Bouverie’s acquisitions were not limited to Italian drawings. It is not known where he bought it, but he also owned Dürer’s drawing of Christ being nailed to the Cross, to be sold from the collection of the late A. Alfred Taubman, in these Rooms, on 27 January 2016 (lot 25).

^8. N. Turner and C. Plazzotta, Drawings by Guercino from British Collections, exhib. cat., London, British Museum, 1991, p. 22

^9. P. Bagni, Il Guercino e il suo falsario, I Disegni di Figura, Bologna 1990, p. 12

^10. P. Bagni, op. cit., Bologna 1983, p. 114, no. 43, reproduced p. 115