- Guercino, Il
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(Italian: "The Squinter") orig. Giovanni Francesco Barbieriborn Feb. 8, 1591, Cento, Papal Statesdied Dec. 22, 1666, BolognaItalian painter.Strongly influenced by the Bolognese school, he was called to Rome in 1621 by the Bolognese pope Gregory XV and, among other commissions, decorated the Villa Ludovisi; the ceiling fresco Aurora is painted to appear as if there were no ceiling, so that Aurora's chariot is seen to float directly over the building. He returned to his native town of Cento in 1623. In 1642, upon the death of Guido Reni, he moved to Bologna and was its leading painter until his death. One of the outstanding draftsmen of his age, he had a profound impact on the development of 17th-century Baroque decoration.
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▪ Italian artistoriginal name Giovanni Francesco Barbieriborn Feb. 8, 1591, Cento, near Ferrara, Papal States [Italy]died Dec. 22, 1666, BolognaItalian painter whose frescoes freshly exploited the illusionistic ceiling, making a profound impact on 17th-century Baroque decoration. His nickname Il Guercino (“The Squinting One”) was derived from a physical defect.Guercino received his earliest training locally, but the formative influence on his style came from Bologna, especially from the naturalistic paintings of Lodovico Carracci. Such early works as “Madonna in Glory with Saints and a Donor” (1616; Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels) have large forms, strong colour, and broad, vigorous brushwork. His method of using light and shadow was unrelated to the discoveries of Caravaggio and was derived from Bologna and Venice, which Guercino visited in 1618.In 1621 Guercino went to Rome, where he played an important role in the evolution of Roman High Baroque art. Among many other commissions, he decorated the Casino Ludovisi. The main fresco, “Aurora,” on the ceiling of the Grand Hall, is a spirited romantic work, painted to appear as though there were no ceiling, so that the viewer could see Aurora's chariot moving directly over the building. Yet it already reveals something of the crucial experience of his stay in Rome, his contact with Pope Gregory XV's private secretary, Monsignor Agucchi, a propagandist for the classicism of Annibale Carracci's balanced and restrained Roman style. Guercino seems to have tried to make his own style conform with Carraccesque principles, an effort reflected in his “Sta. Petronilla” (1621; Capitoline Museum, Rome). On the death of Gregory XV in 1623, Guercino opened a studio in Cento. Then, upon the death of Guido Reni (1642), whose position in Bologna as heir to Annibale Carracci had been unassailable, he moved to that city, where he was the leading painter until his death.Some of Guercino's late works, such as “Abraham Driving Out Hagar and Ishmael” (1657–58; Brera Picture Gallery, Milan), are impressive achievements, but other paintings seem weak or sentimental.Additional ReadingDenis Mahon, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory (1947, reprinted 1971), and Guercino: Master Painter of the Baroque, trans. from Italian (1992), an exhibition catalog; Denis Mahon and Nicholas Turner, The Drawings of Guercino in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle (1989); Claudio Strinati and Rossella Vodret (eds.), Guercino and Emilian Classicist Painting: From the Collections of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, Rome (1999).* * *
Universalium. 2010.
