Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino

Casa Gennari;
Francesco Forni;
John Bouverie,
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, husband of Elizabeth Bouverie's childhood friend Margaret Gambier, to his son in law
Sir Gerard Noel, father of the 1st Earl of Gainsborough,
by descent to Charles Noel, 3rd Earl of Gainsborough,
his sale and others, London, Christie's, 27 July 1922, lot 85 (to Parsons);
purchased from E. Parsons, and Sons, London, 5 August 1922;
sale, London, Christie's, Master Drawings from the Oppé Collection, 5 December 2006, lot 20

 

London, Burlington Fine Art Club, 1923, no. 15;
London, Royal Academy, The Paul Oppé Collection, 1958, no. 280;
Ottawa, The National Gallery of Canada, Exhibition of Works from the Paul Oppé Collection, 1961, no. 123;
London, British Museum, Drawings by Guercino from British Collections, 1991, no. 211, reproduced

A.G.B. Russell, Drawings by Guercino, London 1923, p. 21, pl. IV

Glued on the backing sheet only in few places: on the right margin and on part of the top and bottom margins. Very mild light spots, especially along the margins and two very small dark ones towards the right margin. Slight tracing of some slight foxing and paper slightly wrinkled. Pen and ink fresh.
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This very rapid and impressive pen and ink caricature shows a peasant woman wearing a straw hat, holding a baby close to her breast, and a couple, the woman shown in profile. The connection between the single figure and the other two is not clear, although Guercino's attention seems primarily focussed on the elderly woman looking out at the viewer, with a subdued expression in her eyes.

The present drawing belongs to the artist's genre and caricatures studies which were executed solely for his own amusement, or that of his immediate family and friends (see also lot 60).  They never seem to relate to his painted works.  These amusing and comic drawings, sometimes also cruel in their close observation of reality, are witnesses to the artist's wit, sensibility and acumen in capturing the essence of the world around him, focussing on people and events from everyday life.  Despite their caricatural nature, many of these sketches were surely drawn from life, and like the present example, they still convey a timeless and intimate image of a captured moment.  According to the biographer Malvasia, Guercino was always compassionate towards people around him,¹ and Passeri, another of Guercino's biographers, mentions the artist's interest in portraying characters from the rural community of his native town, Cento.²  In choosing to describe genre subjects, Guercino followed a Bolognese tradition which originates in paintings and drawings by the Carracci (see lot 52), especially Annibale. 

The provenance of this drawing is fascinating and links it directly to the family of the artist (see also lot 60).  It was purchased in Italy by John Bouverie (c.1722-50), a provenance often associated with the best of Guercino’s drawings.³  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.⁴  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.⁵

^1. C.C. Malvasia, Felsina Pittrice Vite dei Pittori Bolognesi, ed. Bologna 1971, p. 564G.

^2. B. Passeri, Vite de'Pittori Scultori ed Architetti che anno lavorato in Roma...., Rome 1772, p. 370

^3. N. Turner, ‘John Bouverie as a Collector of Drawings,’ The Burlington Magazine, vol. 136, February 1994, pp. 90-99

^4. N. Turner and C. Plazzotta, Drawings by Guercino from British Collections, exhib. cat., London, British Museum, 1991, p. 22

^5. P. Bagni, Il Guercino e il suo falsario, I Disegni di Figura, Bologna 1990, p. 12