Saint Jérôme

Guercino prints bring the drama and warm light of the Italian Baroque into your home. Born Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Guercino rose from a farming family in Cento to become the leading painter of Bologna, famous for vivid altarpieces and some of the liveliest drawings of his century. Our collection of fine art prints includes his biblical and classical paintings, saints, portraits, landscapes and many of his quick pen and chalk studies.

About Guercino

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri was born on 8 February 1591 in Cento, a town in the Po Valley between Bologna and Ferrara, into a family of peasant farmers. He was cross-eyed, and as a child he picked up the nickname Guercino, meaning "little squinter", which stuck for life. He was largely self-taught, though at 16 he worked in the shop of Benedetto Gennari, a painter of the Bolognese school, and he always said his early style owed much to a Madonna by Ludovico Carracci in a Cento church.

His early frescoes and landscapes already showed an independent eye, and Ludovico Carracci praised him in Bologna. In 1621 he was recommended to the newly elected Bolognese pope, Gregory XV, and spent two very productive years in Rome. There he painted the Aurora ceiling at the Casino of the Villa Ludovisi, a portrait of the pope and the huge Burial of Saint Petronilla altarpiece for St Peter's Basilica.

After the pope died in 1623 Guercino went home to Cento. He painted frescoes in Piacenza Cathedral from 1626, and from 1629 he and his brother Paolo Antonio Barbieri, a still-life painter, kept an account book that records his commissions in detail. When his rival Guido Reni died in 1642, Guercino moved his busy workshop to Bologna and took Reni's place as the city's leading painter of religious subjects. He died in Bologna on 22 December 1666.

Style and Subjects

Guercino worked fast. He completed more than 100 large altarpieces and around 144 other paintings, and his early pictures are strongly naturalistic, with deep shadows, bold light and crowded, energetic compositions. In his later years, after Reni's death, his style became calmer and more classical, with clearer colour and balanced groups of figures.

His drawings are a world of their own. Made in pen and ink, wash or red chalk, they combine quick, looping lines with dots and hatching, and range from studies for paintings to landscapes, everyday scenes and caricatures he drew for his own amusement. Pictures like Moonlight Landscape show his gift for atmosphere outside religious subjects.

Famous Works

• Samson Captured by the Philistines (1619), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. One of two large canvases for Cardinal Serra, painted in a stark, Caravaggio-like manner.
• The Raising of Lazarus (1619), Louvre, Paris. A dramatic early work full of crowded figures and sharp light.
• The Return of the Prodigal Son (1619), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. The father welcomes his son home in a close, intimate group.
• Et in Arcadia Ego (c. 1618–22), Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome. Two shepherds find a skull, the first known painting to use the Latin motto later taken up by Poussin.
• Saint Matthew and the Angel (1622), Capitoline Museums, Rome. The evangelist writes his gospel with an angel at his side, from the Roman years.
• Burial of Saint Petronilla (1623), Capitoline Museums, Rome. The great altarpiece painted for St Peter's Basilica.
• The Death of Cleopatra (1648), Musei di Strada Nuova, Genoa. A calm, classical treatment of the queen's death from his later Bologna years.
• Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael (1657), Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. A tender late picture of a family parting, one of his best-known works.

Decorating with Guercino Prints

Guercino's large religious and classical paintings have the scale and warm, deep colouring to anchor a formal living room, library or dining room. Pictures such as The Death of Cleopatra or Pope Gregory XV work well above a fireplace or console in a traditional interior with dark wood and rich fabrics.

His drawings are a lighter choice. The brown ink and red chalk studies look good grouped in a hallway, study or bedroom, and they sit comfortably in modern rooms too, where their quick lines feel fresh and personal.

FAQ

What art movement was Guercino part of?

Guercino was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese school. His early work is strongly naturalistic, while his later paintings move toward a calmer, classical style.

Why is he called Guercino?

Guercino means "little squinter" in Italian. He was cross-eyed from childhood and the nickname stuck; his real name was Giovanni Francesco Barbieri.

What is Guercino's most famous painting?

Among his best-known works are the Aurora ceiling in the Villa Ludovisi in Rome, Et in Arcadia Ego, the Burial of Saint Petronilla and Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael.

Where can I see Guercino's paintings?

Major works are in the Capitoline Museums and Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Rome, the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Cento, his hometown, also has a gallery of his work.

Are Guercino's drawings important?

Yes. He was one of the most prolific draughtsmen of his time, and his pen, wash and red chalk drawings are admired for their speed and liveliness.

Related Artists

• Ludovico Carracci: Bolognese master whose Madonna in Cento shaped Guercino's early style
• Guido Reni: his great rival in Bologna, whose role he took over in 1642
• Caravaggio: the naturalistic painter whose manner his early canvases echo
• Nicolas Poussin: took up the Et in Arcadia Ego theme Guercino first painted
• Domenichino: fellow Bolognese painter working in Rome in the same years