Guercino

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Guercino

1591-1666

The Martrydom of St. Bartholomew

1635-1636

Pen and brown ink and wash, on laid paper.

9 11/16 x 7 9/16 inches (246 x 192 mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

I, 101e

Notes:

For Guercino's painting of the subject, now in the church of San Martino, Siena.
After a contract dispute prevented the delivery of an altarpiece by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647) to the Mancini family chapel in the church of San Martino, Siena, Guercino was commissioned to paint a replacement work. This study for the altarpiece echoes Lanfranco's version of the subject and must have been one of Guercino's earliest sketches, as several later drawings reveal the work's development toward its final form; in all, the focus is on the violent act of the executioners, who prepare to kill the saint by flaying him. -- Exhibition label: Guercino, virtuoso draftsman, Morgan Library & Museum, 4 October 2019-2 February 2020.

Provenance:

Sir Charles Greville (1762/63-1832), London (L. 549, verso); George Guy Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick, (1818-1893), Warwick (L. 2600); probably his sale, Christie's, London, 20-21 May 1896, lot 172; Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see L. 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.

Associated names:

Greville, Charles, 1762-1832, former owner.
Warwick, George Guy Greville, Earl of, 1818-1893, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943, former owner.

Bibliography:

Marciari, John. Guercino : virtuoso draftsman. New York : Morgan Library & Museum, in association with Paul Holberton Publishing, 2019, no. 18, repr.
Stampfle and Bean 1967, no. 41; Salerno 1988, 247; Stone 1991a, 82-87; Turner and Plazzotta 1991, 136; Mahon 1991-92, no. 89; Brooks 2006, 60-63; Giles et al. 2014, 148; Turner 2017, 503.

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