Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called il Guercino

Casa Gennari (with inventory numbering: 5 O.P.);
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, lot 76 ('The Property of A Nobleman') containing two drawings (the lot was unsold, and remained in the property of the Earl of Gainsborough);
by inheritance to the Fowell Buxton family, possibly via the marriage in 1862 of Victoria, daughter of the Earl of Gainsborough and Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 3rd Baronet;
by descent to Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 6th Baronet,
sale, London, Sotheby's, 23 March 1978, lot 158,
purchased by a European private collector,
by inheritance to the present owner

Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico, Il Guercino. Disegni, 1991, pp. 92-94, no. 55, reproduced p. 93, fig. 55

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 colour;
P. Bagni, Gli Affreschi del Guercino nel Duomo di Piacenza, Padua 1994, p. 110, no. 75, reproduced;
Cento, Pinacoteca Civica, La 'Candida Rosa', 1988, reproduced p. 178, al no. 64

Laid down, and attached on the left and right edges to the knew mount,. On the upper left corner traces of a slight water stain. the paper slightly buckled and some slight wrinkles running along the left margin. The media is strong and fresh and the sheet is overall in good condition. It is sold mounted and framed in a modern 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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Highly finished and refined, this remarkable red chalk study by Guercino relates, as Sir Denis Mahon first pointed out in 1978, to the artist’s important early decorative scheme in the cupola of the Cathedral of Piacenza.  It is preparatory for the central figure of St. Simeon holding the infant Christ, in the centre foreground of The Presentation in the Temple (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, highly finished and executed with a robust and secure handling of the red chalk, 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 great intensity in the rendering of these two contrasting images: the free, nervous and robust lines characterizing the bold figure of St. Simeon, and the subtle and delicate sfumato skilfully used in the rendering of the flesh of the Christ Child.  Already here, the artist has reached the exceptional heights of refinement that we admire so much in his later works.  Guercino has finished this drawing as a work of art in its own right, although still a preparatory study, and even if it surely represents almost the final stage in the artist’s development of the painted image, he continuously searches for solutions, making endless alterations and revisions, as we can see here from the pentimenti in the hat of St. Simeon. 

Given the importance of this early commission it is not surprising that Guercino made a large number of preparatory studies, some of which have survived.  The artist’s first step in the preparation of The Presentation in the Temple, as for the other scenes, seems to have been to make rapid sketches in pen and ink for the whole composition.  A very handsome pen and ink preliminary study for the whole composition has survived, and is at the Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie.¹  The preliminary studies, ‘primi pensieri’, were followed by pen or chalk studies for individual figures. Guercino focused on, and drew, every detail, often preferring to use red chalk; there are, for instance, two related red chalk studies in a private collection: the first focusing on the Christ Child, studied in the same position as in the final painting, with his right arm falling down, while the body of St. Simeon is just broadly sketched,² the second a study for the old woman behind the kneeling Madonna.³  A third red chalk study related to the same scene, showing just the draped curtain behind St Simeon, is preserved in the Schloss Fachsenfeld collection, now in the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart.⁴

The provenance of this drawing is as exceptional as its artistic quality and wonderful state of preservation.  It was purchased in Italy by John Bouverie (c.1722-50),⁵ whose collection is often associated with the best of Guercino’s drawings (see also lots 55 and 60).  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.  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.⁶  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.⁷

^1. J. Bentini, op. cit., p. 85, no. 14. 7, pp. 90-91 reproduced in colour

^2. Ibid. p. 92, no. 14. 8, reproduced in colour

^3. Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico, exhib. cat., op.cit., 1991, p. 94, no. 56, reproduced fig. 56

^4. Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie, inv. no. 111/80; J. Bentini, op. cit., p. 92, no. 14. 9, reproduced in colour

^5. N. Turner, ‘John Bouverie as a Collector of Drawings,’ The Burlington Magazine, vol. 136, February 1994, pp. 90-99

^6. N. Turner and C. Plazzotta, Drawings by Guercino from British Collections, exhib. cat., London, British Museum, 1991, p. 22

^7. P. Bagni, Il Guercino e il suo falsario, I Disegni di Figura, Bologna 1990, p. 12