Guercino
| Guercino | |
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 Self portrait, c. 1635 |
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| Birth name | Giovanni Francesco Barbieri |
| Born | February 8, 1591 Cento |
| Died | December 22, 1666 (aged 75) Bologna |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Field | Painting |
| Movement | Baroque |
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666), best known as Guercino or Il Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter from the region of Emilia, and active in Rome and Bologna. Guercino is Italian for 'squinter', a nickname that was given to him because he was cross-eyed. He is especially noted for his many drawings.
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[edit] Biography
Guercino was born at Cento, a village between Bologna and Ferrara.
By the age of 17 he was associated with Benedetto Gennari, a painter of the Bolognese School. By 1615 he had moved to Bologna, where his work gained the praise of an elder Ludovico Carracci. Guercino painted two large canvases, Elijah Fed by Ravens and Samson Seized by Philistines, in what appears to be a stark naturalist Caravaggesque style (although it is unlikely he had been able to see any of the Roman Caravaggios first-hand). They were painted for Cardinal Serra, Papal Legate to Ferrara.
The Arcadian Shepherds (Et in Arcadia ego) was painted in 1618 contemporary with The Flaying of Marsyas by Apollo in Palazzo Pitti. His first style, he often claimed, was influenced by a canvas of Annibale Carracci in Cento. Some of his later pieces approach rather to the manner of his contemporary Guido Reni, and are painted with more lightness and clearness. Guercino was very highly esteemed in his lifetime. He was then recommended by Marchese Enzo Bentivoglio to the Bolognese Ludovisi Pope, Pope Gregory XV. The two years he spent in Rome, 1621-23, were very productive. From this period came his frescoes of Aurora at the casino of the Villa Ludovisi and the ceiling in San Crisogono (1622) of San Chrysogonus in Glory; his portrait of Pope Gregory (now in the Getty Museum, and, what is considered his masterpiece, The Burial of Saint Petronilla or St. Petronilla Altarpiece, for the Vatican (now in the Museo Capitolini).
The Franciscan order of Reggio in 1655 paid him 300 ducats for the altarpiece of Saint Luke Displaying a Painting of the Madonna and Child (now in Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City). The Corsini also paid him 300 ducats for the Flagellation of Christ painted in 1657.
He was remarkable for the extreme rapidity of his execution—he completed no fewer than 106 large altar-pieces for churches, and his other paintings amount to about 144. In 1626 he began his frescoes in the Duomo of Piacenza. Guercino continued to paint and teach up to the time of his death in 1666, amassing a notable fortune.
[edit] References
"Giovanni Barbieri". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.- Marchese Antonio Bolognini Amorini (1843). "Parte Quinta". Vite de Pittori ed Artifici Bolognesi. Tipografia Governativa alla Volpe, Bologna. pp. 223–272. http://books.google.com/books?id=-GABAAAAQAAJ&dq=pittori&as_brr=1.
[edit] Gallery
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Susanna and the Elders, 1617
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St. Francis with an Angel Playing Violin, 1620
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Aurora, 1621
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Crucifixion of Christ with Madonna and Saints Mary Magdalene, St. John and Saint Prosper at his feet, 1624-25
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Semiramis receives the news of Insurrection at Babylon, 1645
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St. Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin, 1652-53
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St. Thomas writing the Holy Sacrament, 1662
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David with the Head of Goliath
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Personification of Astrology. Blanton Museum of Art, Texas
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Joseph and Potiphar's Wife - Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino, 1649 - National Gallery of Art
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The Death of Dido - Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino, 1625 - Palazzo Spada, Rome
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Mary Madgalene (ca 1624-1625). Blanton Museum of Art, Texas
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Guercino |
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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Barbieri, Giovanni Francesco. |
