Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, il Guercino

(Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna) Virtuous Cupid,
oil on canvas, 105.5 x 151.5 cm, framed,

Provenance: The painting was acquired by the renowned Venetian collector Giovanni Donato Correggio for 500 ducats on 20 May 1654 (see Libro dei conti). It reappeared in an auction at Sotheby’s, London, on 6 July 2006, with a provenance from Richard 4th Baron Coleridge (1905–1984); in the catalogue, the painting was erroneously attributed to Cesare Gennari and wrongly identified as an Allegory of the Liberal Arts. In the meantime, research conducted by Dr Francesca Baldassari, Denis Mahon, and Prof Nicholas Turner has positively established Guercino’s authorship; English private collection

Literature: F. Baldassari, “Ancora un Guercino ‘veneziano’: ‘L’Amore Virtuoso’ per Giovanni Donato Correggio”, in: Nuovi Studi, 14, 2008 13th year, pp.141–43, pl.165; F. Baldassari, “L’Amore Fedele e Eterno del Guercino”, in Nuovi Studi, 11, 2005, pp. 265–68; L. Borean, La quadreria di Agostino e Giovan Donato Correggio nel collezionismo Veneziano del Seicento, Udine 2000, p. 203; ‘L’Amore Virtuso e l’Amore Fedele ed Eterno von ‘Guerzin da Cento’ in der Sammlung (cameron) Giovan Donato Correggio in dessen venzianischem Palazzo, Udine 2000, p. 203; B. Guelfi and Denis Mahon, Il libro dei conti di Guercino 1629–1666, Venice 1977, p. 165, no. 484.

Certificate: Sir Denis Mahon and Prof Nicolas Turner inspected the present painting in the original after it had been restored and unanimously accepted it as an entirely autograph work by Guercino. A detailed certificate from Prof. Turner is available.

The present painting which recently appeared on the London art market (see provenance) is the companion piece to Guercino’s composition of Amore Fedele, now in Washington, The National Gallery. Both the latter and the present painting were made for Giovanni Donato Correggio (1608–1674), Guercino’s collector and patron.
Correggio was a Venetian nobleman who owned a magnificent palace on the Grand Canal that housed his collection of significant Italian masters (Carracci, Reni, Dolci, Ribera, etc.). According to Guercino’s account book, Correggio, who acquired altogether about half a dozen works from his favourite painter, paid 500 ducats to Guercino on 20 May 1654 for an ‘Amore Virtuoso’. Correggio’s account book lists a corresponding payment to Guercino. ‘The detailed description leaves no doubt that the object in question is identical with the present painting.’ Francesca Baldassari: ‘Un quadro entrovi un Amorino nudo virtuoso inginocchiato sopra due libri con una testa di marmo, liuto e violino; in mano un libro da cantar e poi, scarpelli, martello e tavoletta peneli e subiotto; opere delle più belle abbia fatto il signor Giovanni Francesco Barbieri detto Guercino. (‘A painting depicting the nude figure of Cupid kneeling on two books…, holding a songbook in his hand, as well as scalpels, a hammer, and a palette with brushes; one of the most beautiful works ever painted by Guercino.’) L. Borean (see Literature) points out that the piece of information saying that Cupid is supported on two books is due to an excusable mistake made by the author of the inventory. ‘The painstaking painterly execution and the invention’s fascinating quality are further convincing arguments that the Amore Virtuoso by Guercino is entirely autograph’ (Baldassari). Francesca Baldassari dates the painting to 1654, which is supported by archival documents. She writes: ‘The silky rendering of the salmon coloured cloth is like Guercino’s signature and is comparable to the one carried by the preaching John the Baptist in the Pinacoteca Civica in Cento…‘ ‘The wide and deep landscape, painted with free, fluid brushstrokes, is of great beauty and corresponds to the landscape setting of the pendants San Paolo Eremita and Santa Maria Maddalena in Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale.

Recent cleaning of the painting has made it possible to regain a sense of the landscape’s spatial depth and the readability of such details as the three tiny figures on the riverbank, the castle on the right-hand side, and the cottages in the background. ‘It is highly probable that Guercino intended here to allude to the plains around Cento (the artist’s native town) on the River Reno: The delicate sfumato of the flesh tones and the subtle chromatic transitions are typical features of Guercino’s well-known phase at the beginning of the 1650s.’ (F. Baldassari).

Specialist: Prof. Dr. Peter Wolf