Giovanni Francesco Barbieri - Il Guercino Lot n° 725

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri - Il Guercino 1591 Cento - 1666 Bologna attr. - Susanna and the two old women - Red chalk drawing/paper. 19.4 x 27.8 cm. Collector's stamp l. u. Verso a further study. The sheet is loose. Upper right corner rest. Remnants of adhesive tape verso. Slightly waterstained and foxing. - Provenance: Heinrich Beckmann Collection (1874-1940), Bremen (Lugt 2756a); auction Reinhold Puppel, Berlin February 27/28, 1941; Bahlsen Collection, Hanover (no inventory lists from this period could be researched in the Bahlsen Archive); private collection, Hanover. - Exhib: Exhibited together with other drawings of the 17th century Italian school from the Beckmann Collection in the Bremen Kunsthalle, 1938. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, gen. Il Guercino, was an Italian painter of the Bolognese school around Ludovico Carracci. His influence can be clearly seen in the painting "Susanna and the Two Old Men", a work from 1617, which is now kept in the Prado in Madrid. The present sheet shows a preliminary study, probably for the composition of this early work by the artist.