Copy after Guercino

According to Jacob Bean, this drawing is the reprise of a lost study by Guercino formerly in the Donnadieu-Usslaub collection, Paris (Bean 1969, p. 430, pl. 36, repr.; Stone 1991, p. 29). The unpublished Donnadieu-Usslaub drawing is part of a series of prepartory drawings for Guercino's Crucifixion with Saints, painted for the church of the Madonna della Ghiara, Reggio Emilia, in 1624-1625 and the artist's most important commission after he returned to Emilia from Rome (Mahon, Dipinti, cat. 58, pp. 143-6, pl. 58, repr.; Salerno 1988, cat. 105, p. 187, repr.; Stone 1991, p. 29, fig. 12a, repr.). Mahon notes the existence of a further copy of the Donnadieu drawing in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (inv. 14536; Mahon, Disegni, p. 102, Bean 1969, p. 430). Numerous studies attest to the care with which Guercino prepared this highly important altarpiece. Earlier compositional studies are in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan (inv. 9; Emiliani 1959, cat. 69, p. 52, repr.); several figure studies are in the Teylers Museum (inv. nos. H 20, H 44, H 80; Serooskerken 1991, pp. 54-59, repr.), and the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle (inv. 2483, 2553, 2585, 2644; Mahon and Turner 1989, pp. 171-19, pl. 31-34, repr.; Turner and Plazzotta 1991, p. 80-1, pl. 10, repr.; Turner 1991-2, pp. 68-71, repr.); and one figure study is in the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia (inv. 50.48.87; Stone 1991, cat. 12, pp. 29-32, repr.). However, of the illustrated compostional studies, the Morgan's sheet is the closest to the final painting, most notably in its placement of the figures of the Virgin and Mary Magdalene and the pose of Christ on the Cross.
Copy after Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino. Cento 1591-1666 Bologna