Guercino

(Giovanni Francesco Barbieri; 1591-1666)

   The youngest member of the Carracci School. Guercino's appellation (in English, squinter) stems from the fact that he was slightly cross-eyed, which caused him to squint. He was born in Cento, not far from Bologna, and was essentially self-taught. In fact, contemporary sources indicate that Guercino had an academy of his own. In his formative years, he had the opportunity to study Ludovico Carracci's Cento Madonna (1591; Cento, Museo Civico) and he also may have traveled to Bologna where he would have seen other works by the members of the Carracci School. Surprisingly, however, Guercino's early works show interest in Caravaggist naturalism, as his Et in Arcadia Ego (c. 1618; Rome, Galleria Nazionale d' Arte Antica) and Samson Arrested by the Philistines (1619; New York, Metropolitan Museum) exemplify.

   In 1621, Guercino went to Rome, where he remained until 1623, working for the Ludovisi, Pope Gregory XV's family. For them he painted his famed Aurora in the Casino Ludovisi (1621), a vault fresco in a di sotto in sù technique and quadratura framework inspired by Annibale Carracci's Triumph of Bacchus in the center of the Farnese ceiling (c. 1597-1600; Palazzo Farnese). Completely dependent on the Iconologia by Cesare Ripa for the attributes of its allegorical figures, the work speaks of the dawn of a new era in the papacy under Gregory XV's rule. In 1623, Guercino also received the commission from the pope to paint one of his most important altarpieces, the Burial of St. Petronilla (1623; Rome, Capitoline Museum). A few months after its completion, the pope died and, having lost his patronage, Guercino returned to Cento.

   Guercino's return to his hometown coincided with an abrupt change in his style. He abandoned all vestiges of the Caravaggesque mode and began utilizing a more classicizing vocabulary. His application of paint became less spontaneous, his blues and reds more intense, and his figures more idealized. His Presentation in the Temple (1623; London, National Gallery) and Christ Appearing to the Virgin (1628-1630; Cento, Pinacoteca Comunale) belong to this phase in his career. When Guido Reni died in 1642, Guercino, hopeful to take his place, moved to Bologna, where he did in fact become the leading master of the city. In Bologna, Guercino's art became even more idealized and permeated with a stillness that evokes meditation and devotion from the viewer, his Circumcision (1646; Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts) and Marriage of the Virgin (1649; Fano, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio) providing two of the most outstanding examples. Guercino died in Bologna in 1666 after a long and fruitful career.