Recto is accessioned as I, 101h, verso is accessioned as I, 101i.
As Guercino began work on the Visitation for the Giroldo Fiordibelli chapel in Reggio (see the drawings nearby), he also turned to the Beheading of SS. John and Paul that was to decorate the opposite wall of the chapel. John and Paul were Christians in fourth-century Rome, brothers in the army of Constantine, who were martyred circa 361-63 during the reign of Julian the Apostate. Their martyrdom is not a subject painted with much frequency. On both sides of this sheet, and in numerous other drawings, Guercino experimented with various versions of the saints' beheading, trying multiple positions for the executioner's arms and for the fallen bodies. Although the painting was always intended to include a Virgin and Child in the upper half of the canvas, the compositional studies focus only on the narrative subject, a practice seen elsewhere in the artist's work. -- Exhibition label: Guercino, virtuoso draftsman, Morgan Library & Museum, 4 October 2019-2 February 2020.
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.
Marciari, John. Guercino : virtuoso draftsman. New York : Morgan Library & Museum, in association with Paul Holberton Publishing, 2019, no. 15, repr.
Stampfle and Bean 1968, no. 40; Mahon 1968b, no. 128; Varriano 1974, no. 12; Salerno 1988, 232; Mahon and Turner 1989, 37-39; Stone 1991a, 58-64; Turner and Plazzotta 1991, 112-17; Van Tuyll 1991, 76; Brooks 2006, 55-57.