Cesare Gennari designed this frontispiece for a series of etchings after landscape drawings by his uncle Guercino, whose portrait appears in the medallion. Cesare’s name and the printmaker’s, Giuseppe Roli, appear along the lower left edge of this drawing. Their names were added by Clemente Nicoli, an eighteenth-century engraver who produced prints after Guercino and other Bolognese artists. Nicoli owned this sheet and inscribed his own name along the lower centre edge.

As the custodians of Guercino's studio after his death, Benedetto and Cesare Gennari preserved their uncle's drawings in a relatively intact corpus and cherished his memory. A drawing in the Witt collection shows one of the ways in which Benedetto and Cesare chose to honour their uncle. It is a design by Cesare Gennari made as the frontispiece to a series of fourteen etchings of Guercino landscape drawings, published in the 1670s with a dedication to Francesco II d'Este, Duke of Modena. Benedetto, who was in Paris working for the French court between 1672 - 1674, had the series etched there by Jean Pesne. The plates were then sent to Bologna, where Cesare drew a frontispiece (engraved by Gioseffo Roli) that is a testament to 'Guercinosity'. Cesare's drawing uses the entire range of media at his disposal, resulting in a collage-like effect. Two putti drawn in stumped black chalk hold a medallion portrait in red ink of a youthful Guercino, whose squint is not emphasized (in contrast to Leoni's engraving). One putto pulls back a curtain drawn in brown wash and red chalk, revealing a striking landscape that is clearly also an homage to Guercino's style. [Entry from Julian Brooks, Guercino: Mind to Paper, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2006, pp. 5 - 6].

Clemente Maria Nicoli (1753-after 1811); E. Parsons & Sons (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), n.d. (£2.65); Witt Bequest 1952

Drawings Gallery Display - Reading Drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 21/01/2017-04/06/2017

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

Guercino: Mind to paper, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Courtauld Gallery, London, 2006-2007 Los Angeles, 2006
pp. 5-6
Illus. p. 5

Inscription: Cesare Genari intagliato da Gio: Roli collezione Nicoli

Inscription: Frontespicio a Paesi, Dissegni / del. Cav. Gio. Franco Barbieri / intagliati da Gio. Penna in Parigi / Cesare Genari Invenit / Groseffo Roli fece / Tommaso Colli forma in Bologna / a S. Tommaso d'Aquino

Inscription: 127.

Collector's mark: none.

Watermark: Verso: right centre, circle containing numbers: "0 9"