GUERCINO (GiovanniFrancescoBarbieri)
16 Christ Preaching in the Temple
Pen and brown ink and brown wash; H: 26.9 cm (io^9 /i6
in.); W: 42.7 cm (i6^3 /i6in.)
84.00.23
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left corner, col-
lection marks of Baron D. Vivant-Denon (L. 779),
Jacques Petit-Horry, Marie Marignane (L. 1848); at bot-
tom right corner, collection marks of baron de Malaus-
sena (L. 1887), Marie Marignane; unidentified mark; in-
scribed 112 in black ink.
PROVENANCE: Baron D. Vivant-Denon, Paris (sale,
A. N. Perignon, Paris, April 1-19, 1826, lot 443); baron
de Malaussena, Indre; Marie Marignane, Paris; Hubert
Marignane, Paris; private collection, Paris.
EXHIBITIONS: Dessins franc^ais et italiens du XVIe et du
XVlIe siecle dans les collections privees fran^aises, Galerie
Claude Aubry, Paris, December 1971, no. 55.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Monuments des arts du dessin (Paris,
1829), vol. 3, no. 211 (engraving by D. Vivant-Denon);
J. Bean, "Review of Omaggio al Guercino... ," Master
Drawings 5, no. 3 (1967), p. 304; E. Riccomini, // Seicento
ferrarese (Milan, 1969), p. 38, no. 2iA;J. Varriano, "Guer-
cino, Bonfanti and 'Christ Among the Doctors,' " Record
of the Art Museum, Princeton University 32, no. I (1973),
pp. 11-15; F. Gibbons, Catalogue of the Italian Drawings in
the Art Museum, Princeton University (Princeton, 1977),
vol. i, p. in, under no. 334.
THIS DRAWING AND A TWO-SIDED SHEET ALSO BY
Guercino in the Mount Holyoke Art Museum, South
Hadley (inv. P.RIV. 1.1954), were used by his follower
Antonio Bonfanti for the latter's painting of the same
subject in the church of San Francesco, Ferrara (Riccom-
ini 1969, p. 38; Varriano 1973, pp. 11-15). The painting
was commissioned by Cardinal Bonifacio Bevilacqua
and dates from before 1627, when he died. Varriano has
carefully and convincingly analyzed the chronological
sequence of the three drawings, noting that the recto and
verso of the Mount Holyoke sheet (in that order) pre-
ceded the Museum's drawing. His statement that "the
only original features in the Paris [now the Getty Mu-
seum's] composition are found in the characterization of
some of the doctors" (1973, p. 13) is, however, wide of
the mark. Among other points, the principal gesture
made by Christ's right arm appears only in the Museum's
drawing and was adopted by Bonfanti. It is also note-
worthy that Bonfanti's own preparatory study for this
composition (Princeton University, Art Museum, inv.
48-730) contains several original elements he used in his
painting in Ferrara (Gibbons 1977, vol. i, no. 334).52 ITALIAN SCHOOL • GUERCINO