Amnon and Tamar

1649

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino

Associated Names
Guercino

Artist, Bolognese, 1591 - 1666

This drawing is a sketch of two people seen from the knees up. The person on the right is a bare-chested man with a muscular build, his head turned towards the left. His facial features are minimal, and he has short, curly hair. Cloth appears to drape and flow around his waist. The person on the left appears to be a woman who is facing the left with her head turned back towards the right, showing similarly minimal facial features. She also has curly hair and is nude, although she holds a large bundle of cloth in front of her. This cloth appears to be the same cloth that is wrapped around the man's waist. The drawing is in reddish-brown chalk on a beige background.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    red chalk on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 18.9 x 26.1 cm (7 7/16 x 10 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1989.14.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist's nephews, Benedetto and Cesare Gennari, Casa Gennari, Bologna; by descent to Carlo Gennari; Francesco Forni, Bologna; John Bouverie (d. 1750); his nephew, Mr. Christopher Hervey (d. 1786); his aunt, Elizabeth Bouverie (d. 1798); by inheritance to Sir Charles Middleton (1726-1813); by descent to his grandson, Charles Noel (1781-1866), who was created 1st Earl of Gainsborough in 1841 (sale, London, 20 July 1859, possibly lot 71, "a study of two figures"; the Bouverie mark, Lugt 325, was probably placed on the drawing at this sale). Private collection (sale, Bonhams, London, 16 June 1988, no. 11); (Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London); NGA purchase in 1989.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1988

  • European Drawings, Recent Acquisitions, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London, 1988, no. 27.

1991

  • Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Il Guercino (1591-1666), Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, 1991, no. 139 (Denis Mahon).

Bibliography

1988

  • Salerno, Luigi. I Dipinti del Guercino. Roma, 1988: 334, under no. 163.

1991

  • Stone, David. Guercino, Catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1991: 257, under no. 247.

  • Stone, David. Guercino master Draftsman, Works from North American Collections, Exh. Cat. Harvard University Art Museums, 1991, and tour, under no. 29, and Supplemental Checklist, no. 166, pl. I.

Markings

within a double circle

Watermarks

Lamb holding pennant,*

Wikidata ID

Q64572426

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