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Annunciation

Maker

(artist)
1591-1666

Title

Annunciation

Date of Production

1638 - 1639

Medium

pen and ink (brown), wash (brown) on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 30.3 cm
Width: 21.2 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.1339

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

This vibrant study for an altarpiece in the church of SS. Annunziata in the Ospedale Maggiore in Milan is one of Guercino’s most impressively handled drawings. Supported on billowy clouds, God the father, the archangel Gabriel and a flying putto hover above the kneeling Virgin. The arc of figures is unified by patches of brown wash, loosely applied in layers, dark over pale, creating an effect of light and space within the composition and a palpable feeling of depth.

Provenance

by descent to the artist's nephews, Benedetto Gennari (1633-1715) and Cesare Gennari (1637-1688), 1666; by descent to Cesare’s sons, Gianfrancesco Gennari (1671-1727) and Filippo Antonio Gennari (1677-1751), 1719; by descent to Gianfrancesco's son, Carlo Gennari (1716-1790); presumably Francesco Forni, Bologna (18th century) or Abbé Bonducci, Florence (18th century); presumably acquired from either of those by John Bouverie, England (ca. 1722/1723-1750), 1741 or 1745; by descent to his sister, Anne Hervey (d. 1757); by descent to her son, Christopher Hervey (d. 1786); by descent to his aunt, Elizabeth Bouverie (d. 1798); by descent to Sir Charles Middleton, later 1st Baron Barham (1726-1813); by descent to his son-in-law, Sir Gerard Noel, 2nd Baron Barham (1759-1838); by descent to his son, Charles Noel, later 1st Earl of Gainsborough (1781-1866); by descent to Charles Noel, 3rd Earl of Gainsborough (1850-1926); his sale, Christie's (London), 27 July 1922, part of lot 81; purchased there by F.R. Meatyard (London) on behalf of Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Guercino - Mind to Paper, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 22/02/2007-13/05/2007

Guercino - Mind to Paper, J Paul Getty Museum & Los Angeles & California & USA, 24/10/2006-21/01/2007

Il Guercino 1591-1666. Dipinti e Disengi, Il Guercino e la
bottega, Museo Civico Archeologico & Bologna & Italy, 06/09/1991-10/11/1991 ...More

Drawings by Guercino from British Collections, British Museum, London, 1991

Drawings by Guercino and other Baroque Masters, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/02/1977-01/03/1977

Drawings by Giovanni Barbieri (Guercino), R.E.A. Wilson, London, 1933 ...Less

Literature

Guercino: Mind to paper, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Courtauld Gallery, London, 2006-2007 Los Angeles, 2006
no. 25
Fig. p. 76

Farsettiarte, Prato, May 1997
under lot 224

Guercino: Drawings from Windsor Castle, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991
p. 120 ...More

Drawings by Guercino from British collections, British Museum, London, 1991, 1991
no. 121 and pp. 31n92, 32n108, 146
Fig. p. 147

Il Guercino 1591-1666. Dipinti e Disegni, Il Guercino e la bottega, Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna; Pinacoteca Civica e Chiesa del Rosario, Cento; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt et al., 1991
no. 103
Fig. p. 166

Drawings by Guercino from British Collections, British Museum, London, 1991
cat. no. 121

Czere, Andrea, Disegni di artisti bolognesi nel museo delle belle arti di Budapest, Bologna, Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1989
p. 90

Mahon, Denis and Nicholas Turner, The drawings of Guercino in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989
p. 57

Drawings by Guercino and other Baroque masters, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1977, 1977
no. 19 and pp. 3, 13 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Collector's mark: collector's mark of Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b)

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