GIOVANNI FRANCESCO BARBIERI, called GUERCINO
(Cento 1591–1666 Bologna)

Landscape with a Natural Bridge

Pen and brown ink laid on paper
10 7/8 x 17 inches (27.5 x 43.2 cm)

Provenance:   

Dr John O'Brien
Mr and Mrs Christopher Tunnard

Exhibited:     

“Centennial Loan Exhibition: Drawings & Watercolors from Alumnae and Their Families, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York,” Poughkeepsie, Vassar College, 19 May – 11 June 1961, and Wildenstein and Co., New York, 14 June – 9 September 1961, no. 35, illustrated.

Literature:      

David M. Stone, Guercino, Master Draftsman: Works from North American Collections, Cambridge, MA and Bologna, 1991, p. 168, under cat. no. 73.

The late Sir Denis Mahon confirmed the attribution to Guercino. David M. Stone endorsed this when comparing Landscape with a Natural Bridge to Guercino's splendid drawing, Shepherds Peering into a Chasm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Our drawing shows densely drawn animated figures near the riverbank and scattered in the distance. Beyond are lively rock formations and trees framing the Reno river, and drawn with a lighter touch, the town of Pieve di Cento.