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painting of a woman in a red dress with her eyes closedan image of a painting of a woman ' s face in a gold frame
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56 - Il Guercino – Head and Shoulders of the Virgin in an Assumpt…
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Estimate €35,000 - €50,000
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Description
Il Guercino – Head and Shoulders of the Virgin in an Assumption, c. 1626 Oil on oval canvas, 50 x 40 cm This painting is a particularly significant example within the oeuvre of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino, not only for its high pictorial quality, but above all for the role it plays in reconstructing the artist’s creative process.In his critical essay on the work, Nicholas Turner fully recognised the master’s hand, emphasising its extraordinary freedom of execution and initially identifying stylistic characteristics reminiscent of Guercino’s years in Rome, between 1621 and 1623. The scholar noted in particular the breadth and confidence of the brushstrokes, the vigorous chiaroscuro and a colour palette of Titianesque origin, built up through golden yellows, blues and deep wine-red tones.The figure is captured in a moment of intense immediacy: her head slightly tilted, her lips parted and her moist gaze turned upwards lend the Virgin an emotional depth that transcends the mere function of a study. The execution alternates between passages of remarkable definition, particularly in the face and neck, and others rendered with an extremely subtle and fluid brushwork. Particularly noteworthy is the rendering of the hair, created through rapid, flowing brushstrokes which Turner compared, in terms of immediacy, to a genuine drawing executed with a brush. Numerous pentimenti are also clearly visible, particularly along the outline of the head, neck and shoulders. These changes are of particular importance as they bear witness to a phase of the creative process that was still in flux and confirm the experimental nature of the work. A decisive moment in the painting’s critical reception was its publication in 2011 by Angelo Mazza and Nicholas Turner in *Guercino in Reggio Emilia*. The book *La genesi dell’invenzione*, in which the work is illustrated in fig. 12 and discussed in a chapter significantly entitled ‘An oil study for the head of the Madonna in an Assumption of the Virgin’.In that work, Mazza and Turner linked the painting to the large altarpiece depicting the Assumption of the Virgin with angels and Saints Peter and Jerome, painted by Guercino for Reggio Emilia Cathedral in 1626. The painting is not interpreted as a compositional sketch for the entire altarpiece, but rather as an independent study intended to explore a different solution for the position and lighting of the Virgin’s head. It is precisely this characteristic that makes the work exceptional. As scholars have observed, Guercino was in the habit of developing his ideas through numerous graphic studies, whilst it is far rarer to find oil studies of individual details in his oeuvre. Mazza and Turner indeed emphasise that this painting is of exceptional importance for understanding the relationship, in the master’s practice, between preparatory drawing and pictorial experimentation. The canvas allows us to follow the artist’s thought process almost directly. The profile of the neck, the different level initially envisaged for the shoulders, the drape of the dress and, above all, the play of light on the face bear witness to a series of alterations made during the painting’s execution. It is therefore a work in which the painting not only records a finished image but also physically preserves the various stages of its creation. Finally, of particular interest is the possible documentary evidence identified by Turner in Guercino’s account book. On 21 December 1631, there is in fact an entry recording the payment of: ‘a Head of a Madonna, 20 scudi’ by Francesco Miletto, Governor of Cento between 1630 and 1632.Turner has suggested that this entry may refer precisely to this painting. The painting would have remained in Guercino’s studio, or at least in his possession, for several years before its sale to Miletto in 1631. In terms of the quality of its execution, critical and bibliographical documentation, and the rare opportunity to observe Guercino’s creative process directly through an independent pictorial study, the ‘Head and Shoulders of the Virgin in an Assumption’ represents a significant record of the artist’s evolving style in the 1620s and of the genesis of the great Reggio Emilia altarpiece of 1626.The work is also accompanied by a critical essay by Prof. Andrea Emiliani. Bibliography: N. Turner, A. Mazza, *Guercino in Reggio Emilia. The Genesis of Invention*, Milan, Skira, 2011, pp. 52, 54–55, fig. 12; A. Emiliani, Cain and Abel. Study of an early work by Giovan Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino, Rimini, NFC Edizioni, 2016, pp. 25–27; N. Turner, *The Paintings of Guercino. A Revised and Expanded Catalogue Raisonné*, Rome, Ugo Bozzi Editore, 2017, p. 422, fig. 147.I;Guercino’s Account Book 1629–1666, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cento, p. 59, no. 25.Provenance: Possibly Francesco Miletto, Governor of Cento, purchased directly from Guercino on 21 December 1631 for 20 scudi; Luigi Tardini, Modena, former Mayor of Modena, 1840–1860; private collection, Modena.
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About the sale Paintings and Drawings from the 15th to the 19th century
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Auction time 10/29/2026 at 3:00 PM
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