by-nc
IIIF logo Open IIIF manifest What is IIIF IIIF viewers

Two seated women drying their hair in front of a fire

Maker

(artist)
1591-1666

Title

Two seated women drying their hair in front of a fire

Date of Production

(circa) 1635

Medium

pen and brown ink, brown wash on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 18.9 cm
Width: 26.2 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.1359

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






Related Works

Wash Repeat : after Guercino # 3

Label Text

In this work, astonishingly modern in effect, Guercino reveals himself as an intimate observer of everyday life. He also demonstrates his exceptional compositional skills, lending monumentality to the two voluminous figures leaning forward to dry their long hair. The use of wash is particularly admirable: the saturated brush describes the dense and sodden locks, whilst the tips are rendered in dryer brush strokes, and the warm air drifting up from the fire is captured with light touches.

Provenance

by descent to the artist's nephews Benedetto (1633 - 1719) and Cesare Gennari (1637 - 1688), 1666; by descent to their nephews Filippo Antonio (1677 - 1751) and Gianfrancesco Gennari (1671 - 1727), 1719; by descent to Gianfrancesco's son Carlo Gennari (1716 - 1790); purchased by John Bouverie (ca. 1723 - 1750), perhaps in Italy on his first grand tour through intermediary Francesco Forni in Bologna, ca. 1740 - 1742; by descent to his sister Anne Bouverie (d. 1757); by descent to her husband John Hervey (d. 1764); by descent to his son Christopher Hervey (d. 1786); by descent to his aunt Miss Elizabeth Bouverie (d. 1798; surviving sister of John Bouverie); by bequest to Sir Charles Middleton, later 1st Baron Barham (1726 - 1813); by descent to his son-in-law Sir Gerard Noel Noel, 2nd Baron Barham (1759 - 1838); by descent to his son Sir Charles Noel, 3rd Baron Barham and later 1st Earl of Gainsborough (1781 - 1866); by descent to the 3rd Earl of Gainsborough; his sale, Christie's (London), 27 July 1922, lot 81 (a box containing 68 drawings by Guercino and others); purchased there by F.R. Meatyard (London) on behalf of Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b (£90 for the lot); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Drawing Together, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 30/09/2017-02/01/2018

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 ...More

The Witt Collection - Four centuries of drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/04/2004-20/06/2004

Michelangelo to Matisse - Drawing the Figure, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20/11/1999-27/02/2000

Master Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 16/10/1991-19/01/1992

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

Italian Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries from the Witt
Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/03/1971-01/04/1971

Italian Old Master drawings. Witt Collection, Courtauld Gallery, The National Art Gallery of New Zealand, Wellington, 1970

Il Guercino - Catalogo critico dei disegni, Bologna, 01/09/1968-18/11/1968

Old Master Drawings from the Witt Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery, 01/09/1960-01/10/1960 ...Less

Literature

The Courtauld Gallery and Thomas, Ben. Drawing Together (London: Courtauld Gallery, 2017-2018)
pp. 30-38
ill. on p. 36

Petherbridge, Deanna, The primacy of drawing: histories and theories of practice, New Haven 2010
pp. 123, 125
pl. 74 on p. 124

Michelangelo to Matisse - Drawing the Figure, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1999 - 2000
cat. no. 174
pp. 182, 226, 239
ill. ...More

Drawings by Guercino from British collections, British Museum, London, 1991, 1991
cat. no. 191
pp. 31 note 92, 32 note 108, 205, 212
fig. 191

Master Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1991
cat. no. 41
pp. 90, 182
Illus. on p. 91

Drawings by Guercino and other Baroque masters, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1977, 1977
p. 21

Italian Old Master Drawings - Witt Collection, Courtauld Gallery, National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, 1973, 1973
cat. no. 34
p. 20

Italian drawings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1971
p. 4

Mahon, Denis. "Drawings by Guercino in the Casa Gennari" Apollo 86 (1968): 346-357.
ill. on. p. 355

Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, 1591-1666): Catalogo critico dei disegni, Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna, 1968, 1969
cat. no. 217
pp. 201, 205-06, 208

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 76 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: centre: circle topped by a three-leaf clover, unclear what it contains.

Collector's mark: Verso: lower right corner, partially stamped on an added bit of paper, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Inscription: none.

Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk. Find out more about using and licensing our images.

____________________________

Buy a print from our collection