A Study of Putti for the Madonna del Rosario, Osimo
Guercino (Cento 1591 – Bologna 1666)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1640 - 1642
Materials
Red chalk on buff paper
Measurements
220 x 335 mm
Place of origin
Emilia-Romagna
Collection
Vyne Estate, Hampshire
NT 2900386
Summary
Red chalk drawing on paper, A Study of Putti for the Maddona del Rosario, Osimo, by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as il Guercino (1591-1666), 1640-1642.
Full description
This is one of 28 drawings by Guercino (1591-1666) probably acquired by John Chute (1701-1776) of The Vyne during his Grand Tour between 1741 and 1746. It was probably purchased in Rome or Bologna from the artist’s descendants the Gennari family of Bologna and is likely to have been selected by Chute from the large number of drawings left by Guercino. The drawings chosen by Chute were a mixture of religious and secular subjects including the flagellation of Jesus Christ, St George slaying the dragon, and the Emblem of the City of Bologna. Chute was thus at the vanguard of the passion for Guercino which emerged in Britain, where large numbers of his drawings soon began to flow in the second half of the eighteenth century. The album of 28 drawings remained at The Vyne passing by descent to Sir Charles Chute (1879-1956) until they were sold at Sotheby's in 1949 (22 June, Lot 1) where they were purchased by R.E.A. Lewis who split the album and sold the drawings off individually. Other examples from the album are now in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC as well as private collections. Sir Denis Mahon identified this drawing as a preparatory sketch for Guercino’s painting The Madonna of the Rosary, with the Saints Dominic and Catherine of Siena, the altarpiece of the Church of San Marco Evangelisto in Osimo, Italy. This work was commissioned under the wishes of Cardinal Agostino Galamini, Bishop of Osimo (d.1639), with Guercino receiving his first down-payment for the work in 1641 with the work completed in 1642. The final work, which hangs to this day over the high altar of the church of San Marco in Osimo, depicts the Madonna and the Christ Child dispensing rosaries from heaven to Saints Dominic and Catherine of Siena. This drawing helped Guercino devise the poses of the putti who flutter around the holy family, scattering roses as a joyful evocation of heavenly grace. In the final composition Guercino arrived at a more vertical arrangement of the putti, but it is possible to see certain elements of their poses and movements taking shape in the drawing prior to a series of reversals of direction and recombining of limbs. Part of the fascination of the picture is this dual status; both as a functional working document and as a highly refined frieze-like composition with its own unique rhythm of playful movements and engaging expressions.
Provenance
Purchased, as part of an album of 28 drawings, from descendants of the artist by John Chute (1701-76) of The Vyne during his Grand Tour between 1741 and 1746; by descent at The Vyne; offered for sale at Sotheby's, London, 22 June 1949 (lot 1); purchased by R.E.A. Wilson, by whom the album was broken up and the drawings sold separately; private collection; purchased by the National Trust from Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, London, 2019, with funds from gifts and bequests.
Makers and roles
Guercino (Cento 1591 – Bologna 1666) , publisher
References
Mahon,1986: Denis Mahon, David Eskerdjian and Helen Davies, ‘Guercino Drawings from the Collections of Denis Mahon and the Ashmolean Museum [Exhibition Catalogue]’ The Burlington Magazine, vol.128, no. 996 (March, 1986), pp. i-xii, 1, 3-33, 35-52 Harvey-Jones, Poppy 2016 : https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23327/lot/60/ webpage accessed 17/12/2020]